Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant
by Mr. Xiran
Summary: The activation of Delta Halo has been stopped, but humanity is on the brink of destruction. The Prophet of Truth is taking a Covenant fleet to Earth to destroy the planet. Will the Master Chief stop them in time? What will happen to the Arbiter et al.?
1. Prologue: Party in the Control Room

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

_**Author's Note: This is first serious fanfic but I don't know how good it is so please R&R. Also, most of the chapters will be 1500 to 4000 words long. These are not the set limits; they are just the general guidelines. Thanks.**_

**_Warning: If you copy/plagiarize any part of my story, you will be prosecuted to the maximum legal extent. If I can't really do anything to you legally, I'll just flame you and/or report you, unless it was honestly a coincidence._**

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**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Prologue**

**Party in the Control Room**

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Tartarus swung his Fist of Rukt at the Arbiter but he quickly dodged the blow. Tartarus roared in rage and he swung again. A nearby Sangheili Ultra jumped in front of the hammer and shifted Tartarus's aim at the cost of his own life.

"For you, Arbiter. Finish this vermin," the Sangheili warrior gasped. A gush of blood erupted from his mouth and the once proud warrior passed away.

"_You will be avenged my brother._"

The Arbiter glared at Tartarus with hatred etched in every line of his face. Then Tartarus returned the scowl and leaped towards the last symbol of hope for the Elites, intent on destroying it; the Arbiter. The Brute Chieftain swung his legendary Fist of Rukt at the Arbiter, who jumped backwards, narrowly escaping his death. The Fist of Rukt passed no more than an inch away from his body and the waves of energy radiating from it snuffed out his shields. To escape further damage, the Arbiter jumped into the gravity lift in the center of the structure. A risky move, because if the installation fired at the moment, he would be fried.

Tartarus roared and followed the Arbiter up the lift. As Tartarus was going up, the Arbiter sprinted to a weapons canister conveniently placed against one of the pillars supporting the structure and pulled out two brute plasma rifles. He preferred the normal ones because, although the red rifles had a faster rate of fire, they were easy to overheat. The blue rifles had a slightly slower rate of fire, but could be fired for much longer before the gun ceased to function while it dumped waste heat and plasma.

While Tartarus was still in the air, the Arbiter sprayed the Brute Chieftain with wave after wave of plasma, squeezing the trigger of one rifle till it overheated, and while it was cooling down, he would fired the other, to make sure that there was a constant stream of plasma. The plasma had no noticeable effect on the Tartarus and he merely laughed at the Arbiter's futile attempts to kill him.

"Fool! You will never hurt me, for I am Tartarus, Chieftain of the Brutes! Remember that name well Arbiter, for I am the one that will put an end to your pitiful existence!" roared Tartarus.

He started to advance towards the Arbiter when suddenly, three bursts of pure energy impacted upon the Brute's near impervious energy shield. Tartarus flinched and, to everyone's surprise, the shield faded. Three Sangheili Zealots came up the gravity lift armed with energy swords. They ran at Tartarus at full speed and the first one sliced him right in the chest...a second too late. The shields reactivated and the blade of plasma bounced off of Tartarus's body. Tartarus, now angry, turned around and swung his massive hammer, taking out the warrior that tried to kill him. Then Tartarus tightened his grasp on the handle of his Fist of Rukt and lashed out at the second Zealot. The hammer made contact with the Zealot's head with such force that the head snapped off at the neck. The Sangheili's eyes widened before his head fell to the floor, and then it moved no more.

The Brute Chieftain then turned around to gaze at the third Zealot, whom the Arbiter could've sworn flinched just at the sight of the dreadful face of Tartarus. He did not however, run away, but instead, shouted a war cry and launched himself at Tartarus. Tartarus roared in reply, spit flying from his jaws. The Zealot lashed out with his blade, but it did nothing. The blade that was reputed to cut through anything failed to conquer Tartarus's personal shields. Tartarus however, didn't have that problem. Without warning, the Brute Chieftain swung his Fist of Rukt. He feinted one way with the hammer and the Sangheili warrior tried to dodge it. Then Tartarus charged the direction of the hammer in midswing. The unfortunate Sangheili couldn't move fast enough and the hammer hit him in the chest. Bones broke as the Elite howled in pain while flying back at the force of the blow. The cries of pain grew fainter and fainter as the Elite flew right over the edge of the platform and down to the bottomless chasm.

While Tartarus was killing the three Zealots, the Arbiter gazed around the structure, looking for the one responsible for the three superb shots. Then his gaze fell upon a dark skinned human male.

"What the hell are you staring at? Finish that Brute off!" he yelled.

Those words brought him back to reality. He looked up just as the last Zealot flew over the edge, howling. Then Tartarus turned around and ran towards the Arbiter at a frighteningly fast pace. Three more purple beams were fired from the beam rifle and all three shots impacted upon Tartarus's shield. The shield faded away as Tartarus roared in fury. The Arbiter saw his chance and squeezed the triggers for his red plasma rifles. The plasma hit Tartarus and fused fur and skin together. The Brute Chieftain cried out in pain and anger.Unfortunately, the plasma did nothing to keep the Brute from advancing towards his position, and worse yet, before his plasma rifles could cool down, Tartarus's shields recharged so he couldn't get another shot in.

"_Oh no, I'm a goner._"

Just then three more bursts of purple light hit Tartarus in rapid succession and the Brute's shield was gone once again. Tartarus was distracted for a split second, which allowed the Arbiter to get away. The Arbiter ran forwards in Tartarus's direction, which caught the Brute off guard. The least thing he expected the Arbiter to do was to lunge straight at him, since he was physically stronger than the Sangheili warrior.

The Arbiter's intent wasn't to attack Tartarus however. It was to pick up the energy sword dropped by one of his fallen brothers. He dived, grasped the hilt of one of the swords, rolled, and was back on his feet in a matter of seconds. Tartarus turned around, surprised at the fact that the Arbiter had gotten past him, and brought his hammer down on the Arbiter's head. The Sangheili jumped to one side and dodged the blow. He swung again and again, steadily forcing the Arbiter back until he had the Sangheili's back against a wall.

"_May the Forerunners have mercy on my soul,_" prayed the Arbiter. Not a second after he finished his prayers, three more purple lasers hit Tartarus.

Tartarus's eyes widened in surprise and fury as his shields were disabled once again. He gave a great roar and swung the Fist of Rukt at the Arbiter with all his might. The Arbiter jumped up, causing the hammer to take out a large portion of the wall behind where his stomach was a second ago. He then kicked off the crumbling wall while still in the air, activated his sword, and buried it to the hilt into Tartarus's face while the Brute's shields were still disabled.

Tartarus realized what was happening just as he missed with his hammer, but couldn't do anything about it. He watched, wide eyed, as the Arbiter pulled off the move gracefully.

"_I can't believe that this vermin has beaten me._"

That was Tartarus's last thought before a sabre of plasma pierced through his tough hide and ended the Brute Chieftain's life. Tartarus made no noise as his blood rained down in fountains and splattered on the metallic floor. Then his knees buckled and he fell to the ground. The whole chamber was silent, save for the clank of machinery, as the Brute Chieftain fell.

Then someone grunted from behind the Arbiter, and he turned to see who it was. He was just in time to see the Human female jump from one of the higher platforms onto one of the rotating sections of the control room. She then ducked just in time as another rotating part almost knocked her off her feet. She then jumped down and yanked the sacred icon from the controls. She then held it to her chest like a child as the installation started to vibrate violently. A few seconds later, a bright ball of energy erupted from the bottomless chasm and burst through the top of the control room. He closed his eyes waited for the sacred ring to activate and to wipe every living being off the face of the galaxy, but that didn't happen. He opened his eyes a few seconds later just in time to see the human male let go of the Oracle after it lowered him down. Then realization started to sink in. _I'm alive!_

"What's that?" the Human female asked before the Arbiter could say anything.

"A beacon," 343 Guilty Spark replied.

"What's it doing?"

"Communicating, at super-luminal speeds with the frequency of-"

"Communicating with what?" interjected the Human female.

"The other installations," the Monitor replied calmly.

"Show me," she demanded.

"Fail-safe protocol. In the event of unexpected shutdown, the entire system moves to standby status. All remaining platforms are now ready for remote activation," said the Monitor. A holoscreen showed seven sacred rings drift into different parts of the screen. One of them was marked in red, which the Arbiter guessed was the one that was destroyed.

"Remote activation? From here?" asked the Human female in a worried voice.

"Don't be ridiculous!" scoffed the Monitor.

Sergeant Johnson, who was unusually quiet during this conversation suddenly cut in. "Now listen here tinkerbell, don't make me-".

"Then where, where would someone go to activate the other rings?" asked the Human female, cutting Johnson off.

There was a brief pause before the Monitor spoke. "Why, the Ark, of course!"

"And where, Oracle, is that?" inquired the Arbiter.

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The ancient Forerunner ship shuddered as it exited slipspace. John-117, otherwise known as the Master Chief, heard a Human voice on his COM say:

"We've got a new contact! Unknown classification!"

"If it isn't one of ours, take it out," he heard Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood say.

"This is Spartan-117. Can anybody read me? Over." John announced through his COM.

"Isolate that signal. Master Chief? You mind telling me what you're doing on that ship?" asked a surprised Admiral.

"Sir, finishing this fight," responded the Spartan.

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_**A/N: This is a short chapter since this is the Prologue. The rest of the chapters will be longer and better. Trust me! Meanwhile, R&R please!**_

_**Another A/N: Yes I know, the prologue (this chapter) is just a recap of the Halo 2 ending. The rest of the chapters are all original though, so please read and review!**_


	2. Chapter 1: An Odd Alliance

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

_**A/N: This chapter is slightly longer but it's still relatively short. Anyway R&R please!**_

_**Another A/N: This is the rewrite version of Chapter 1: An Odd Alliance.**_

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**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 1**

**An Odd Alliance**

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"All right Master Chief, give me some details on what happened in the last few days," said Admiral Hood. John briefly explained what happened on Delta Halo and how Commander Keyes and Sergeant Johnson were captured by the Covenant. He also explained how he had to leave Cortana in High Charity in case the Flood found an operational ship, so she can destroy Delta Halo. He also told him what his current mission is.

"I see. Well, I can't do much about your current situation but I will tell everyone not to fire on that ship your on. It's the most I can do. Contact me if you find anything important and give me regular updates on your progress. If you fail to make contact with me after thirty minutes, I will assume that you're dead and will order the MAC guns to fire upon that ship. Is that clear Master Chief?"

"Yes sir," said John.

"Good, I'll leave this situation in your capable hands Chief. Good luck. Hood out."

The Master Chief snapped off his COM and mentally recalled what he carried onto the Covenant ship. A single pistol loaded with half a magazine of ammunition and a plasma rifle. Not exactly great for tackling Brutes. He then glanced down to his grenade belt, and found three frags and a plasma there.

The Master Chief looked from side to side to get to know his surroundings better. There was a door on his left and another on his right. The ceiling was immensely high and there were no other way out of the room. Dozens of purple crates and boxes were piled in one corner of the room, he checked behind the crates and in some of them but there was nothing in there that he could use. He glanced from left to right; from one door to the next. Now which way to go?

As if his thought has summoned them, the door on his left opened with a hiss and four Jackals walked through. The Master Chief quickly dived behind an empty weapons canister. He landed with a soft _ping_ but the Jackals, despite their superior sense hearing, smell, and sight, didn't notice him. The Master Chief stayed hidden behind the weapons canister until the four Jackals had passed him. He peeked out carefully and quickly took in information about the Jackals' armaments. There one of them was a sniper, armed with a beam rifle, and the other three were normal infantry, and they had standard handheld plasma shields and plasma pistols.

The birdlike aliens continued talking in their native tongue as they approached the only other door in the room, oblivious to the Chief's presence. When they got to the door, the Jackal with the beam rifle pushed a series of buttons on a holo-panel, and the door slid open. John saw his chance at better weapons and took it. He took his only plasma grenade and threw it at the Jackal sniper. The other three gasped in surprise when the grenade latched onto the Jackal's sniper's arm. It threw down his rifle and tried to pry the grenade off, but to no avail. The others stood still, stunned, with their beaks agape, and then realization started to sink in – too late. The ensuing blast turned three of the four Jackals into chunks of meat and ash. The fourth survived with half its shield arm missing. The surviving alien shrieked in pain and anger as it held its stub of an arm in its other hand. The Master Chief unholstered his M6C Pistol, thumbed the safety off, and shot it in the head. A spray of blue blood splashed across the wall behind the Jackal as the bullet tore through its skull. The shrieking stopped abruptly.

The Master Chief walked over to the dead Jackal's body and swapped his near empty pistol for the dropped plasma pistol. He checked the battery and found that the gun was at eighty-nine percent battery.

"_Good enough._"

He then made his way over to where the Jackal sniper discarded his beam rifle and exchanged his plasma rifle for that. Luckily, the plasma grenade didn't destroy the gun. He then took another plasma pistol from one of the dead bodies. He holstered both plasma pistols and advanced through the open door with his beam rifle ready. Although the rifle wasn't made for close range combat, the Master Chief had gotten good enough with them to use with for close quarters.

He made his way silently though the hallways of the strange ship making no noise. Luckily, all of the doors he had gone through were unlocked. On the way, he encountered a lone Brute, who was patrolling the hallways of the ship.

"_Stupid Brute. Never present your back to an enemy._"

The Master Chief ran up to it silently and smacked the Brute with the butt of his beam rifle. The spine of the Brute snapped with a _crack_, despite the thick hide and muscle protecting it, and it dropped its weapon. The massive hulk of the Brute fell to the deck with a surprising lack of noise. The Master Chief then peeled the Brute's body from the ground and collected the carbine it had fallen on. He checked the ammo counter on top of the carbine and it was full. Good. The Chief then tore a bandolier of plasma grenades from the Brute's belt and extracted the grenades from the belt.

He slung the carbine over his shoulder and moved on. The hallway he was in was vast, more like a giant room than a hallway. The ceiling, walls, and the floor were made of the same grey material as the structures on Alpha Halo and Delta Halo. There were alien symbols everywhere, similar to the buildings on the ring worlds as well.

There was, however, only one door, other than the one he just came from. The door was located at the other end of the hallway. Above the doorway, there were a number of symbols, which the Master Chief didn't understand, but somehow, he knew that something important was behind those doors. He slowly walked up to the door, looking around constantly in case of an ambush, and found that the door was locked from the other side. There was a holo-panel beside the door, but every button he pressed got the same strange symbols scrolling across the holo-screen.

"_Door must be locked._"

Then he remembered that Admiral Hood ordered him to give him regular updates. He contacted the Cairo and informed the Admiral of what he found so far. After he closed the COM channel, he suddenly wished that Cortana were here to help him. Although Cortana had her little quirks and she can get a bit annoying sometimes, the Chief found her to be a valuable asset. She helped him with tactics, giving him information on enemy troop movements, hacking into Covenant battle net to disrupt the enemy and so on. He shook that out of his mind and began to think about what to do in his present situation.

He then noticed tiny a crack in the structure of the door and then decided that breaking the door down was the best solution, because without Cortana, he couldn't hack into the ship's systems and open the door. He laid his beam rifle down beside the door and drew his two plasma pistols. Even though the beam rifle was more efficient when it comes to eliminating enemies, the plasma pistols were much better at melting things. He fired the plasma pistols and melted the door little by little. At last, after eating away about two inches of the unknown Forerunner metal, the Master Chief decided that it was weak enough to yield to his strength. He aimed a solid and precise kick at the weak spot and the door bent inwards but didn't break. He kicked it twice more and after the second kick, the door broke under the pressure. As soon as what was left of the door hit the ground, a wave of red plasma rushed at John and left his shields completely drained.

"_Shit, I should've expected Covenant forces beyond that door._"

He quickly rolled to the side to recharge his shields, picking up his beam rifle while he was at it. He fumbled for his optic cable but then remembered that he had lost it during the scuffle on _High Charity_. The Chief decided to risk sticking his head through the door to see what was going on. He glanced into the room as another wave of red plasma came at him. He took in the way the room was furnished before he quickly pulled his head back to avoid hit. He saw three Brutes running towards him, and a few more at the other end of room, arming themselves. He also noticed a carton of plasma grenades close to the entrance of the room along with a few other weapons.

"_Looks like a makeshift armory of sorts._" He mentally noted.

After a few seconds of hiding, he heard the heavy footsteps of the Brutes growing louder and louder, signifying that the Brutes were getting closer. He pulled the pin off of one of his fragmentation grenades and he dove across the entrance of the door, letting loose his grenade as he went. The explosion of the fragmentation grenade was could be heard and the Brutes roared in pain and rage as the shrapnel dug into the Brutes' skin and flesh. The Brutes' cries were cut short however, when the enormous detonation of the plasma grenades took place. The three Brutes that were close to the door were immediately vaporized as the crate exploded and even those at the far end of the room got splashed with plasma. Unfortunately, the wall the Master Chief was hiding behind also suffered tremendous damage. The wall wobbled slightly, then collapsed in the middle of the shiny crater the grenades made, leaving the Chief with almost no cover.

The four remaining Brutes roared and charged out of the wreckage and straight at the Spartan. He felled two of them with headshots from his beam rifle while the other two went berserk. They remaining two charged him from either side, hoping to crush him between them. However, the Chief was too fast for the Brutes. As the two Brute approached, he quickly dived, rolled and was on his feet again. The two Brutes however, weren't as lucky. Their momentum carried them together and they crashed with a loud crunch. The first Brute's arm somehow ended up coming out of the other one's throat. The Brute with the arm in his throat, groaned and fell to the ground in a pool of his own blood. The first Brute gasped in horror at what he has done and looked in fury at the Chief.

"Die demon," growled the Brute and he charged again. The Chief fired his beam rifle twice in rapid succession, but failed to hit the Brute's head. Two holes appeared in the Brute's chest, but it didn't even slow down. The beam rifle overheated and the Chief discarded it. He unslung his carbine fired at the Brute. Radioactive projectiles impacted upon the Brute's fur and skin, but it shrugged off the damage as if they were paper cuts, and kept charging.

The beast lunged at the Chief with its entire body. The Chief sidestepped and brought the butt of his carbine down on the Brute head. The Brute staggered slightly and counterattacked so quickly that even with his MJOLNIR Mark VI armour, the Chief couldn't dodge it. He flew across the room and landed with a dull thud. A shrill alarm went off in his helmet but he ignored it, annoying alarms and flashing lights would have to wait. He groaned as he got up but the Brute slammed into him again, this time bashing him into a wall. The slowly regenerating shield around him suddenly gave away as it was wiped out by the impact. The Brute then grasped The Spartan by the neck and started punching the Chief as if he was a punching bag. Fist sized dents appeared in his MJOLNIR armour. He kicked the Brute in the stomach with all his might and was rewarded by a gush of blood coming from the Brute's mouth, but the Brute's brain didn't even seem to register the damage the Chief just did to it. It was too focused on killing the Spartan for the pain to register. It then picked John up and threw him into the opposite wall. A crater appeared in the wall where the Spartan hit as his consciousness slipped away from him.

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There was a long silence following the Arbiter's words. Then the Monitor finally spoke.

"I'm not sure really. My creators chose not to put that information in our, that is to say any of the Monitors', data banks, in case we fell into the wrong hands," replied 343 Guilty Spark.

"Say what? Are you telling me that we have to search the entire goddam universe to find this "Ark" so we can stop people from activating these Halos?" Sergeant Johnson exclaimed as he discarded his spent beam rifle for a carbine.

"That is correct Reclaimer. We could, however, conduct a thorough search of all former Forerunner planets, as well as all the Halo installations," the Monitor replied.

"Of course, and this will only take how long? Several thousand years maybe?" said Johnson sarcastically.

"Wait, I remember something about this Ark. It was right before I was given the mission to retrieve the Sacred Icon from the Library. I overheard the Prophet of Truth and Mercy talking together about a sacred monument. They said that judging by the evidence provided by the sacred Forerunner crystals, this sacred monument would be on a planet called Earth," said the Arbiter. "But isn't Earth the human home world?"

"Whoa, wait a sec, so let me get this straight. The Covenant started this whole goddamn war because they believed that we held a sacred monument of theirs? Why didn't they just ask us for it?" asked Johnson. Then he pursed his lips and added. "Although in this case, I'm grateful for the fact that they didn't."

"Technically...no. The Prophets made us wage war against you because they believed that you challenged the great Forerunners. They believed that you offended them and stole their sacred technology, amongst other things," said the Arbiter.

"Oh same shit, different hole," spat Johnson.

"We need to get off this Sacred Ring and stop the Prophets from destroying us all!" said the Arbiter, changing the subject.

"But _In Amber Clad_ crashed into High Charity. Besides, the Flood have taken control of the ship, so even if we do have the ship, we'll have no one to operate it," said Commander Keyes.

"You can come aboard one of our ships. I suggest we form a temporary alliance between us, and then we can stop the Prophet of Truth from finding and activating all the Sacred Rings in the galaxy," replied the Arbiter.

"Wait a minute. How can I know that we can trust you? I mean, what's stopping you from blasting us to smithereens as soon as we board your ship?" inquired Johnson.

"You do not trust a Sangheili on his word? How little do you know of us. Fine, I will personally escort you and make sure no one will hurt you. You saved my life several times in Halo's control room," said the Arbiter, and then his mandibles twitched upwards, the Elites' equivalent of a smile. "And I shall do my best to return the favour."

"Fine, but don't you pull any tricks on us, 'cause Sergeant Avery J. Johnson can take a whole platoon of you guys down with him."

The Arbiter nodded. Then he plucked a communications device from his belt and spoke into it in an alien tongue, which the Humans assumed was the Covenant's universal language. After about five minutes, they heard the unmistakable high-pitched while of a Phantom's engine. As the Phantom lowered, an Elite with gold armour, a Zealot, dropped down from the Phantom's gravity lift. As he spotted the two humans, he snarled and his hand automatically went for the sword hilt strapped to his waist.

"Stop," commanded the Arbiter, "they are here as guests. You shall not harm them."

"But Arbiter..." said the Zealot.

"Will you disobey me?" replied the Arbiter, staring the Zealot straight in the eye. After a few seconds, the Zealot lowered his gaze respectfully.

"No, Holy Arbiter."

"We will explain everything once we get back to our ships," said the Arbiter. There was a lot of explaining to do on his part.

"Yes, Holy Arbiter," said the Zealot submissively.

The Arbiter then turned around to speak to Johnson and Keyes.

"Once we get to the _Undefeated Glory_, it would be wise to not wander about the ship without me, or someone I trust. There might be misunderstandings as a lot of the Sangheili, Unggoy, and Lekgolo population have not heard of this recent alliance," the Arbiter said.

"Fine, but I hope you don't mind that I carry this with me at all times. I might have to protect myself against these little 'misunderstandings'. You know, just in case," replied Johnson, gesturing at his carbine.

"All right, but if you attack any of us..." the Zealot said, his mandibles twitched downwards in a scowl.

"Chill out man. I won't kill any of you if you don't hurt us, alright?"

"Enough talk. Let's go now. The parasite is spreading and if we linger any longer, we may find the entire ship infested and devoid of life when we get back," said the Arbiter.

The Zealot nodded and gestured for Johnson and Keyes to follow. The Arbiter lingered for a second longer before entering the Phantom.

The alien dropship's engines whined as it took off from the platform outside of Halo's control center, and headed towards the _Undefeated Glory_, which was still docked in High Charity. Little did they know that the Gravemind and his minions also wanted that ship.

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_**A/N: Sometimes I will make corrections after I put the actual chapter into the story so don't be surprised if the story changes a bit (it won't be big changes. It'll only be things like instead of saying Delta Halo, I might say Halo 005 or instead of saying the Halos, I might say the Sacred Rings, etc.) Also, thanks Justin for editing this and getting rid of all those grammar errors!**_


	3. Chapter 2: The Sangheili Heretics

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

_**A/N: The flashback section is directly copied from the book Halo: The Fall of Reach page 287 to page 291. It's not word for word but it's pretty darn close. I was going to write my own flashback...but then I realized that they already had one, so I just took that. Please don't flame me for it since I'm telling you right here and now that that part isn't my work. All I did was change the words a bit so it's not word for word, and cut out some parts.**_

_**Another A/N: Let's all assume the Chief knows the original names for the Covenant (and ex-Covenant) races (i.e. Sangheili, Lekgolo, Jiralhanae, Kig-Yar, etc.). I mean, Cortana's probably told him sometime during his missions. Since I don't know the name for a Prophet, they'll just be called Prophets, by both the humans and the aliens.**_

_**Yet Another A/N: This is the rewrite version of Chapter 2: The Sangheili Heretics.**_

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**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 2**

**The Sangheili Heretics**

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"_What happened? All I remember was the Brute beating me against a wall. Damn. I'd better contact Admiral Hood to let him know what's going on._"

John-117 opened his eyes and found himself in a cell surrounded by walls on three sides and an energy barrier on the last. He knew, without checking, that the Brutes took all his weapons and grenades away from him. He was, however, glad that he still had his MJOLNIR armour with him.

He contacted Lord Hood immediately to let him know that he was still alive, but captured. The Admiral received this news quite calmly, despite the seriousness of the situation. He merely told the Chief to continue with his mission and to continue contacting the Cairo whenever something new came up. Once done, John closed the COM channel to the Cairo, and got up to survey his surroundings a bit more carefully.

"The Demon is awake!" squeaked a voice from beyond the energy barrier that's keeping him in.

John spun around as fast as he could and saw a Grunt. His first instinct was to charge at it and take it down before it could get its defences up. His charge went on for a full two seconds before he slammed into the energy barrier and it blasted him back into the back wall.

Alien laughter could be heard from outside of the cell and he felt himself lose control. He knew that he couldn't penetrate the barrier without some sort of weapon, however, so he used the wall to relieve him of his pent up frustration. Two seconds later, his fist slammed into the wall and a small crater appeared in it. All in all, after this little display of anger, he felt a bit better. Then he realized what he had done. He had never lost control like that before, and he was ashamed of doing it now.

"Demon," said another much more quieter voice, but from the same direction.

The Chief stood still, pretending that he didn't hear this new voice. Then an orange light on his helmet started flashing, telling him that someone was trying to contact him on his COM device. He answered it but as soon as the voice spoke, he wished that he hadn't.

"Demon, we do not wish to fight you," said the voice, "All we wish is revenge upon the Jiralhanae."

"Who are you? I know that your part of the Covenant and-" replied the Spartan.

"No! You are wrong! We are not!" the voice cut him off in an angry voice.

"Bullshit! You and those Brutes might be fighting each other, but you're still part of the Covenant, and I'll kill myself before I have any kind of dealings with you, unless it's watching you die by my hands, of course."

"Demon, you are more troublesome than we could've ever imagined. I think I'd rather face you in combat with no armour nor weapons than try to talk to you."

There was some laughter from the other end. The Chief stood there and didn't answer. After a brief pause, the voice spoke again.

"Let me explain. We were ejected from the Covenant. The Jiralhanae and the Sangheili have been enemies for years and it was only the Prophets that stopped us from slaughtering each other for all these years. Then everything changed. Ever since you Demons were first seen on the battlefield, we have made it one of our top priorities to destroy you. We sent wave after wave of Unggoy and Kig-Yar after you but you defeated then with ease. The Prophets then suggested that we were losing our skills and maybe that the Jiralhanae would be more efficient than us. We were enraged at this suggestion and we even sent Sangheili warriors after you, but one by one, they too, fell before you. Even the mighty Zealots and SpecOps Commanders died by your hands. We almost gave up hope, but then we found the Human military stronghold that we've been searching for for years."

"Reach..." whispered the Chief, his anger rising again, but he checked it, before he did something stupid or rash.

_**---Flashback---**_

The Master Chief, and the rest of his squad, were aboard the _Pillar of Autumn_, and were about to enter Slipspace, to carry out their top-secret mission when the _Pillar of Autumn_ turned around slowly.

Kelly walked towards him. "Sir? I thought we were accelerating to enter Slipspace?"

"So did I. Have Fred and Joshua continue prepping the tubes. Have Linda get a team and secure our gear. I'll go find out what's going on," replied John.

He walked towards the intercom panel and pressed a button. "Cortana, we've changed course. Is there a problem?"

Instead of her voice, however, Captain Keyes spoke over the channel. "Captain Keyes to Spartan-117."

"Yes sir?" he replied.

"There has been a change of plans," There was a pause. "It'll be easier to explain face to face. I'm on my way down to brief you. Keyes out."

A few minutes later, the elevator doors opened and Captain Keyes stepped off the lift.

"Captain on the deck!" John shouted, and the Spartans stood at attention

"At ease," Keyes said, although the expression on his face suggested that ease was the last thing on his mind.

"There's something wrong. Very wrong," Keyes said to John after a moment of pause. "Let's talk in private."

"Sir, unless you'd like to leave the deck, the Spartans will hear everything we say," said the Master Chief.

Keyes turned around and looked at the Spartans. "I see. Very well then, your squad might as well hear this too." There was a pause before he continued. "I don't know how they did it, but they found Reach. They bypassed a dozen Inner Colony worlds to get here. It doesn't matter. They are here, and we have to do something.

"Sir? 'They'?"

"The Covenant," replied Keyes. He turned to the intercom. "Cortana, display the last priority Alpha transmission please."

A screen flickered on and the Master Chief, and the rest of the Spartans, read the transmission in silence.

"Cortana has picked up ship signatures on the _Pillar of Autumn_'s sensors," said Captain Keyes. "She's not sure how many there are but there appears to be over a hundred Covenant ships heading towards Reach. We have to go. We have our orders. Section Three's mission is to be scrubbed."

"Scrubbed? Sir?" said John in surprise. He's never had a mission cancelled before.

"Yes Master Chief, if Reach falls, it'll be all over for us."

"Yes sir."

"Good, we'll be arriving at rally point Zulu in twenty minutes," said Captain Keyes as he turned to leave. "Oh, and Master Chief, when we get there, be prepared for anything."

"Sir! Yes sir!" John saluted.

Captain Keyes returned the salute and entered the elevator.

John turned to the rest of the Spartans and they stopped what they were doing.

"You all heard. This is it. Fred and James, I want you to refit one of our Pelicans. Get every scrap of C-12 and shape a charge on her nose. If Captain Keyes downs a Covenant shield, we may have to blast our way into the ship's hull."

Fred and James replied, "Aye sir."

"Linda, assemble a team and get into every crate ONI packed for us and distribute that gear ASAP. Make sure everyone gets a thrusters pack, plenty of ammo, grenades, and Jackhammer launchers if we have them. If we do get on board, we may encounter those armoured Covenant types again, and this time, I want the firepower to take them our."

"Yes sir!"

As the Spartans scrambled to make ready for the mission, the Master Chief approached Kelly. On a private COM channel, he told her, "Crate thirteen on the manifest has three HAVOK nuclear mines. Get them. I have the arming cards. Ready them for transport."

"Affirmative." She paused. "Sir, I know that this mission will be tough, but do you ever get the feeling that this is like one of CPO Mendez's missions? Like there's a trick or some twist that we've overlooked?"

"Yes," he replied. "And I'm waiting for it."

_**---End Flashback---**_

"The planet was called Reach I believe, and a number of Demons were defending the orbital guns' power systems. We eventually overpowered them and killed them, at the cost of thousands of Covenant lives."

"Shut it," growled the Master Chief in a deceptively quiet voice.

"My apologies. It was not my intention to open up old wounds."

The Master Chief relaxed a bit; the voice wasn't taunting him, it was merely speaking the truth. "So tell me. How did you find Reach? As I understand it, you passed dozens of Inner Colony worlds to get to it."

"Following the destruction of ships at one of your planets...Sigma Octanus IV, I believe. We launched a tiny probe and it latched onto one of your ships. The ship it latched on to was called the _Iroquois_ I believe."

"The _Iroquois_! But that was Captain Keyes's ship before he was reassigned to the_ Pillar of Autumn_!" The memory of Captain Jacob Keyes still haunted him; he had to kill the Captain after the Flood infected him.

"It was virtually undetectable, no bigger than your head, and it looked like any other piece of debris."

"_Captain Keyes..._"

"Anyway, after a few days, the probe ejected a memory crystal into slipspace and one of our receiver crafts caught it. We analyzed the data the probe collected, and it appeared that it has been to a large human military stronghold, and a sacred Forerunner installation, according to its sensors."

"I see." The memory of Reach haunted him still as well; he had sent most of his squad to their deaths there.

"While we were glassing Reach, a single human ship called the_ Pillar of Autumn_ escaped our purge. The Arbiter, although he wasn't the Arbiter back then, followed with all the ships in his command. He even followed you all the way to the first Sacred Ring."

"_Halo..._"

"When your ship crashed upon it, we were blamed for it. The Prophets said that we were too proud of ourselves to do our duty; that we were inefficient. They gave us another chance however. They said that if we can kill you, then they'd never say that we lacked loyalty or faith ever again."

"So is that what you're going to do now? You're going to kill me?" asked the Master Chief without a hint of fear.

The voice laughed. "No, we won't. As I've said before, we've been ejected from the Covenant and all we want is vengeance. We won't kill the thing that the Prophets despise and fear the most, the Demons. You are the best chance we have at destroying the Covenant."

"What about after? After we destroy the Covenant, then what happens?"

"We will have to see then. There will be no violence from us however, unless you start it. Peace might be the best thing after this war."

_Peace with the Covenant? Unheard of. When we first tried to contact them they blew us right out of space. _"I don't know...when we first contacted you, your ships blew ours up without even responding...except with 'Your destruction is the will of the Gods, and we are its instrument.'"

"The circumstances are different now," the voice said shortly.

_Should I trust him? Can I trust him?_ "Before we get any farther, who are you?"

"My apologies. My name is Zek Lemanee. I hold the rank of a SpecOps commander. I come from-"

The Chief grunted and cut Lemanee off. "Let's swap stories of our past later. Let's think of a plan to get us out of here first."

"It is impossible. These energy barriers are almost impenetrable without some sort of weapon. These can be opened with ease from the outside...but not from the inside."

"Well, the Brutes will come to retrieve us and take us to some execution chamber or something right?"

"Yes, I believe so."

"Good, we'll escape them. When I turn around and hit the first Brute, I want the rest of you to follow suit."

"There's almost no chance of us taking them down! My squad consists of a large number of Unggoy as well, and Unggoy don't stand a chance against the Jiralhanae!"

"Then do you have a plan?" asked the Chief irritably.

"No, I do not. I will think of somethi-"

The door at the end of the hallway opened and they all fell silent as fifty Brutes came through it, all armed with red plasma rifles, except for the one in the front, who was armed with a grenade launcher, also known as a brute shot. The Brutes neared and deactivated all of the energy cells, including the ones that held the ex-Covenant forces.

"There's no time! You just have to trust me," hissed the Chief. He then clicked off his COM device and waited.

"Come. The High Prophet of Truth demands your audience," said the Brute captain in a cruel voice, hinting about the vast violence in the ex-Covenant and the Spartan's futures if they failed to escape.

"Watch for my signal," said John quietly to Lemanee, using a private channel on his COM system. "If this is successful, then we all get weapons, seeing how there is the same number of Brutes as there are us. If this is unsuccessful, we'll at least take down a whole platoon of Brutes as we go down."

Lemanee gave an almost imperceptible nod as the Brutes put them in a line and escorted them towards what John guessed was the bridge of the Forerunner ship. When he saw that the Brutes were slightly more relaxed, confident that none of these "heretics" and the Demon would not attack, John struck. Before the Brutes knew what hit them, a handful of them were down. The Spartan and the Elites took care of most of the Brutes that were guarding them but the Grunts weren't so lucky. The Grunts were physically weak and without weapons, they were next to useless. When the Brutes saw the Demon and the Elites attack their brethren, they took revenge upon them by massacring the Grunts. The Elites that survived rushed to help their Grunt brethren as the Spartan kicked the Brute captain and sent him flying across the room. In about five minutes, all the Brutes were dead at their feet. Although all the Grunts they had with them were dead, except three. The Chief and Lemanee looked around the room and assessed their team. There were still three Grunts, five SpecOps Elites, five Zealots, three Elite Majors and two Elite Minors left.

"This does not look well for us Demon. We have lost more than half our troops and if we keep losing them at this rate, we will eventually be overwhelmed by the Jiralhanae," said Lemanee as he and the rest of his squad picked up weapons and grenades.

"But now we have weapons, enough for us to hold two brute plasma rifles each, and we have the element of surprise as well. Plus we have well trained warriors here. These Brutes won't defeat us," replied John.

"Very well, we shall rush into the Prophet's room, and annihilate their entire filthy race and make them sorry for ever deceiving the Sangheili!" cried a Zealot as many other Elites roared in agreement.

"No," said John and Lemanee simultaneously. They looked at each other and realized that they probably held the same rank. Each being a formidable warrior and an excellent tactician, they did not know who should lead.

"Go on. Your people are waiting to hear what you have to say," said John, after a moment of awkward silence.

Lemanee nodded with respect before he went on, "I suggest we should not just simply rush in because the Brutes will swarm us under eventually, even with our formidable skills and the Demon aiding us. I say we look for an armory and retrieve better weapons before going after the Jiralhanae and the High Prophet."

"I agree. A bit of stealth and some better weapons will be good," said the Master Chief. All the Elites and Grunts stared at John for a while before Lemanee spoke again.

"We're just wasting time here. You heard what the Demon said. Let's go," said Lemanee.

"I don't appreciate being called Demon. I have a name and a rank. Master Chief will do...or at least call me Spartan instead of Demon," John said.

"We will call you whatever we choose to call you," said an Elite Minor, offended by the fact that the Demon actually demanded for them to do something for him.

"Silence," said Lemanee, "Very well, we'll call you by one of those names...Master Chief, but our mission is more vital than what we call each other. We should go."

"Yes, you're right Lemanee. Let's go," agreed John.

They proceeded through the door the Brutes were going to go through but as soon as they last of their team went through, the door closed forcefully and an alarm rang. As soon as the alarm rang, three Jackal snipers appeared through a door on the far end of the hall. The Jackal snipers saw them and immediately felled the three Grunts in front with three deadly beams of purple. The SpecOps Elite standing directly behind the Grunts roared in anger and sprayed the birdlike Covenant members them with red plasma. The Master Chief primed one of the plasma grenades he took from the dead Brutes in the detention block and threw it. It sailed through the air and landed very close to where the Jackals were standing.

The three Jackals jumped in three different directions but one unlucky Jackal jumped straight towards the plasma grenade thrown by the Master Chief. The grenade exploded and the Jackal's body was immediately vaporized. The other two Jackals looked at their Jackal brother and screeched in anger. An Elite Minor laughed at the Jackal for his errors and he paid the ultimate price for it. Two purple beams rushed through the air and hit the Elite, one after the other. The first one impacted on the Elites shield and drained it. The Elite's laughter turned into a cry of anger. The second one hit the Elite right between the eyes and the roar of anger suddenly went up by an octave as the Elite dropped his gun and fell to the ground. His fellow Elites all roared in unison and started spraying the Jackals with red plasma while other the rest threw grenades at them, try to get a stick. The agile Jackals were too fast for the grenades but weren't fast enough for the plasma fire. After dodging a few volleys of plasma, a few lucky shots hit the Jackals and they started slowing down. Eventually the hail of plasma felled them.

The Elites then calmed down a bit. The Spartan was sure that the enemy wasn't defeated so easily. This had to be a trap. They had to be luring them into a sense of false security and hope before crushing them in an ambush. He was about to warn the cheering Elites when three Brutes crashed through the door behind them while five came from the door the Jackals came through earlier. Just when John thought that it couldn't get any worse, three Brutes rushed in through the door to his left. Worse yet, all the Brutes were using some sort of modified Energy Sword. The Brutes charged as the Elites and Spartan ran to meet them. The Elites shot madly at the Brutes but it didn't seem to do any good. Two Brutes charged at the Master Chief and two charged at the SpecOps leader, sensing that they were the biggest threat. The Chief fired his brute shot four times at a Brute. A gaping wound appeared in its midsection and its non-sword arm was blown right off. Despite these wounds, the Brute kept running at the Master Chief. Even though it was limping severely now and gasping for breath, it didn't slow down much.

_Damn! Three of those high velocity grenades killed Grace, and four of them doesn't even slow this thing down? Damn, they're tough._

The Brute roared his rage and kept charging. When the Brute was about two feet away from John, he rolled to the side and jumped up in one smooth motion. The Brute looked around in confusion and wondering what kind of tactic the human supersoldier was using and it found out as the sharp end of Chief's brute shot pierced its face. It fell on its back, dead, and the red plasma blade it had in its hand dropped to the ground. Thankfully, it didn't have the permanent fail-safes some of the normal plasma swords had.

The other Brute naturally went berserk as it saw its comrade being slaughtered by the Demon. The apelike alien charged at the Spartan with nothing going on his mind but killing. The Spartan vaguely remembered the last time he was overwhelmed by this tactic but he smiled as he knelt down and picked up the red energy sword. The Brute took no notice and kept on charging. When it was about eight feet away from John, he threw the red sword he picked up and jumped out of the way. The Brute charged right into the sword and its head was neatly sliced off. The body kept on going as its momentum carried it into a wall. John turned around and saw that all of the Brutes lay dead except for one, who was berserk. The Brute charged at an Elite Minor. The Elite Minor tried to stand his ground but he had no chance against the Brute as he did not have the training nor the strength of the Brute. One of the surviving Zealots snarled , picked up a red energy sword, and charged at the Brute. One swing of the powerful sword was enough to cut through the Brute's tough hide and cut into its internal organs. The Brute roared in pain and fell limply to the ground. After a few seconds of thrashing around, it finally stopped moving.

"_This Brute must've been weaker than the one I fought..._"

John turned around to access the situation. Only five of them remained: himself, the SpecOps leader, a wounded SpecOps Elite, and two Zealots.

"The Jiralhanae must pay for their treachery. We shall slaughter every last one of them for the Sangheili blood they have spilled." noted the wounded SpecOps Elite.

"Yes they shall," said the SpecOps leader, "We shall fall upon them like a pack of ravenous Kig-Yar and rip them to shreds!"

The Chief sensed that this wasn't the way to do this mission. The Spartan had done these kinds of missions in the past and knew that they required a lot skill and a good plan. They had the skills, just not the plans.

"Lemanee," said John.

"What is it Spartan?" asked Lemanee.

"I think you've noticed that our tactic of destroying everything in sight isn't really working. We've lost ninety-five percent of our forces and Truth probably still control entire platoons of Jackals and Brutes just waiting for us," John said bluntly. Lemanee looked surprised, then angry.

"Do not tell me how to lead my warriors Demon," retorted a slightly angry Lemanee.

"I didn't mean to insult you but from most of the missions of this kind we do. We don't do it with brute force. We usually split up into teams each specializing in a special skill such as sniping, frontal assault, demolitions, or just all around good infantry," said John.

"Who is 'we'?" asked Lemanee.

"My Spartans. There used to be seventy-five of us. I'm the only one left now that can continue active duty on the battlefield," John replied with a trace of sadness.

"I see," said Lemanee, sensing the Spartan's sadness and changed the subject, "So how should be go on with this mission?"

"We should get some better weapons first. Most of these weapons are low on ammo or battery,"

"I see. Troops, let's go find an armory!" declared Lemanee.

"May I make another suggestion?" asked John.

"I'm listening," replied Lemanee.

"What are their names? And what are their special skills? Like sniping, hand to hand combat, and etcetera. " asked John, nodding at the other Elites.

He pointed at the wounded SpecOps Elite. "He is Lad Gemenee and he is the best sniper in my squad." He gestured at the two Zealots. "The one with the energy sword is Lek Melogee, and the one with the brute plasma rifles is Alka Ardonee. They're both good at the front and are excellent at hand to hand combat."

"All right. I think that you, Ardonee, and Melogee should go in front and take any frontal assaults while Gemenee and I stay a bit behind you to pick the Covenant troops off with our carbines and snipers," suggested John.

"Hmmm. Sounds reasonable. You heard the Spartan. Get to it!"

"Hang on," said the Chief as he paused to inform Hood about his situation. He quickly established a link with Cairo Station and was talking with the Admiral within seconds. He quickly explained his situation and informed the Admiral of how the Elites are now booted out of the Covenant and are now offering to help the humans.

"So let me get this straight. The Covenant booted the Grunts, Elites and Hunters out of their order and are killing them?" asked a surprised Admiral.

"Yes, and the Elites, Grunts, and Hunters offered to help us fight the Covenant," replied John, "Should we let them help us? The rest of the human population might not be very happy about fighting alongside a race that has slaughtered thousands of humans."

"I guess we should let them help...for now. We have no other option Chief. If we don't then the Covenant will destroy the human race," said Hood.

"That is all that I have to say. With all due respect sir, I'd like to resume my mission," replied John.

"Yes. Good luck Master Chief," said Hood.

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_**A/N: A slightly longer chapter but not as long as what the other people are putting out. I'm hoping to get to their calibre someday but…I'm not that good yet. R&R please! I turned off Anonymous Review by accident before so I apologize if you wanted to review but couldn't. Again, thank you Justin for editing this and getting rid of all those grammar errors!**_


	4. Chapter 3: Conflicting Purposes

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

**_A/N: No offence to you Arbiter fans out there, but I'm more interested in Master Chief's story than his. The Arbiter just came out of nowhere while the Chief already has a reputation and background. It's a lot easier to write about the Chief than about the Arbiter. Therefore, I think that the Chief chapters will be more interesting that the Arbiter chapters, although I will try my hardest to make the Arbiter chapters nice and interesting. Thanks for reading this and thanks for the support!_**

**_Another A/N: This is the rewrite version of Chapter 3: Conflicting Purposes._**

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**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 3**

**Conflicting Purposes**

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As the Phantom closed in on the abandoned city of High Charity, the Arbiter turned to the two humans and announced that they would be arriving at the docking bay where the _Undefeated Glory_ was docked soon. The two humans nodded their acknowledgement and the Arbiter started to walk away. The two humans looked at each other but it was the Sergeant who spoke the unspoken question.

"What if the ship is filled with Flood when we get to it?" asked Johnson, "Are we gonna fight it?"

"Yes we will have to," replied the Arbiter, "If we don't, then we'll be stuck on High Charity forever; we will perish."

"Oh good, and here I thought we were running away from a perfectly good fight," grinned Sergeant Johnson.

"But we will have to be careful. One less fighter for us means one more for them," warned Keyes.

"You underestimate us, Human," said a nearby Elite, "We will cut through the parasite and they will burn until there's nothing left!"

"Tell that to all the Elite combat forms out there," growled Johnson. Everyone was speechless for a few minutes while Johnson and the Elite stared at each other with open hostility.

"Calm down you two, we're supposed to be friends remember?" said Keyes.

"Friends my ass," snorted Johnson. "I can accept that we have to work together as allies to destroy the Covenant and the Flood, but friends? I don't think so."

"Without us, you can not destroy the Covenant. _We_ have all the ships with the plasma cannons! _We_ have the superior slipspace drives! _We_ have all the technology the Covenant have! Without us you wouldn't stand a chance again the Covenant, and you will die," boasted the arrogant Elite that spoke earlier.

"Shut the hell up, squid-face," retorted Johnson, although he know full well that the Elite is right.

The effects of those words were immediate. Commander Keyes gasped loudly while most of the Elites that were listening flexed their muscles threateningly. Most of them had taken a step or two towards Johnson, trying to intimidate him into backing off or apologizing. The Sergeant did neither.

"Johnson! Apologize to them right now!" ordered Keyes once she regained her composure.

"But ma'am..."

"Do it Johnson! That's an order!"

"Yes ma'am," sighed Johnson. He turned towards the Elites. "Sorry."

"Properly Johnson."

"That will not be necessary..." interrupted the Arbiter.

"Miranda Keyes," supplied Commander Keyes, sensing that the Arbiter didn't know what to call her. Then she stuck out her hand.

Luckily, the Arbiter had studied this sort of human behaviour and knew how to respond to it. He grasped the Commander's hand and shook it.

"Now to business. When we get to the _Undefeated Glory_, I want you all to be prepared for anything. There may be traps set but the Covenant, the Flood, or even the Demon, so I want you to look out for anything suspicious. Is that clear?"

"Yes Holy Arbiter," said almost everyone in unison.

"Good. We will discuss more of this once we retake that flagship."

"Holy Arbiter, we are approaching the _Undefeated Glory_. I estimate that we have about thirty seconds before we land," said the pilot of the Phantom.

"Warriors! Grab your gear and prepare for landing. Keep your eyes peeled for the parasite and any Jiralhanae, Kig-Yar, and Yanme'e," commanded the Arbiter as the Phantom descended upon High Charity slowly.

"Yes Arbiter!" the Elites and Grunts aboard the Phantom said in unison. The Phantom touched down about a hundred metres away from the _Undefeated Glory_.

"Let's go and meet the ship captain and tell him of our current situation," said the Arbiter as he went down the gravity lift.

"I'll try to contact them on the _Undefeated Glory_'s COMM system," said the Zealot that greeted the two humans back in the control room of Delta Halo. He pulled out a strange device that was unfamiliar to the two humans and pushed a button on it. Two strips of shiny purple material popped out and hovered slightly above the device as a holo-panel appeared between the two purple rods. The golden Elite talked in an alien tongue and pressed a few buttons button. After a few minutes, he tried again, which got the same result – a continuous static.

"It's no use Holy Arbiter, the ship's communications system must be down. Either that or there's no one on the other end," said the Zealot after a few more tries.

"Ready your weapons warriors, and be prepared for anything," said the Arbiter as he heard the high pitch sound of Phantoms approaching, "Who are they? Contact them and see if they're allies or enemies."

"It's no use Holy Arbiter! All we get is static and they refuse to give us visual confirmation so we can't see their faces!" the Zealot replied, "Look how many Phantoms there are, and look! There are human dropships as well!"

"We've got company!" yelled Johnson as five Phantoms crashed about two hundred metres behind them and Flood infection forms came out of them, flanked by combat forms, and with carrier forms bringing up the rear.

"Watch out! There's more here! They're trying to flank us!" cried Keyes as two more crashed to their left. Another Phantom, along with two Pelicans crashed to their right as the rest crashed all around High Charity. As soon as each dropship crashed, Flood infection forms started pouring out of them, followed closely by combat forms, and finally, bringing up the rear, were the grotesquely bloated carrier forms.

"Warriors, fire at will!" ordered the Arbiter as plasma rifle and carbine fire filled the air. The infection forms were easy to deal with considering most of the Elites had shielding and Keyes and Johnson both had automatic weapons. The combat forms presented a bit more of a problem. Even though all of the Elites that the Arbiter had with him had fought the Flood before, they inevitably made some mistakes. When the Arbiter's carbine ran out of ammo, he threw it as hard as he could and it hit a carrier form at the back, causing it to fall backwards and explode...right on top of a Elite Minor. The Elite gasped in surprise as the weight of the carrier form pinned him to the ground. His roar was cut short however, when the carrier exploded right on top of him, overloading its shields in an instant. Then the infection forms that just came out of it made quick work of the shieldless Elite. The Arbiter then closed his eyes and muttered an oath. He then drew his plasma sword and charged into battle.

The Arbiter's first victim was a human Flood combat form. It jumped at him, attempting to hit him with its tentacled fist, but at the last possible moment, the Arbiter sidestepped, causing the attack to miss him. The Flood warrior hit the metal ground and made a slight dent in the hard Covenant metal. He Arbiter then swiftly brought down his sword, neatly dissecting the Flood soldier. As soon as the combat form had split in half, something hit the Arbiter's shields, causing it to glow a blinding white for a split second. A small green puff of Flood spores landed on his back. He looked behind him and saw hundreds of infection forms...no more than ten meters away. It appeared that one lone infection form had hit his shields, and accidentally alerted the Arbiter about the danger that lurked behind him.

The Arbiter shuddered at the thought of what might've happened if he didn't notice the hoard of parasites behind him. He started to slowly back up as the parasitic creatures rushed at him – en masse. He ran backwards, and had his sword ready, slicing any infection forms that jumped at him. After chopping a few dozen of these little parasites to pieces, his sword made a hissing sound as it collapsed. He turned around to run back to the Phantom he came in, hoping to find a plasma rifle, since they were the best weapon to kill the infection forms. He turned back to see how far the Flood were from him and unluckily, he tripped over a dead Elite's body.

"_May the Forerunners have mercy on my soul,_" thought the Arbiter as the seemingly endless way of infection forms rushed at him. He got into a crouched position, and got ready to fight the Flood, when he stepped on something metallic. It was a carbine. Although it wasn't as effective as a plasma rifle, it was at least better than fighting with his fist. He picked up the carbine and stood up. The infection forms directly in front of him jumped up and attempted to sink their tentacles into the Arbiter, but the Arbiter flicked his carbine at them. The impact of the butt of the carbine making contact with the parasites' soft bodies caused one to explode, which caused a chain reaction. Small pops followed one another before the chain stopped. Ten infection forms were killed. He recovered quickly from his melee position, levelled his carbine, and shot three times. Three infection forms exploded due to the radioactive energy projectiles. His shot seven more times when the ammo indicator on the carbine turned red, signifying that the pod had no more radioactive energy to shoot out.

There were still enough infection forms left to overload his shields and infect him though. He glanced left and right to find a weapon, and the closest weapon he found was a shotgun about forty metres away. He knew that the infection forms would overtake him before he got to the shotgun, so he stood his ground, accepting his fate.

_Thump_!_ Thump_!_ Thump_! Three infection forms exploded.

_What is going on?_

_Thump_!_ Thump_!_ Thump_! Three more exploded. He looked to his right, and saw the human male holding what looked like a battle rifle. The muzzle of the BR55 flashed three more times. Three _thump_s could be heard, and three infection forms blew up. He activated his suit's COM system and contacted Johnson.

"Thank you, human."

"No prob. Now get back here and help us kill these ugly freaks will ya?"

The Arbiter couldn't help but grin at the Sergeant's comment. He ran towards the shotgun he saw earlier, and found that he was in luck. The shotgun itself was empty but beside it rested two cartridges of twenty-four shells. He loaded the shotgun up, stored the rest of the shells in a compartment on his armour, and ran back towards the centre of the battle, just in time to see a red Elite sticking a plasma grenade to a combat form. The combat form took no notice of the blue explosive on his body as he kept charging. The Elite Major stared in horror as his grenade exploded and killing three of his brother Elites and draining all of his shields. Then, as if sensing that he was weak, dozens of infection forms swarmed him and consumed him, turning the once proud Sangheili warrior into a grotesquely mutated Flood form. The Arbiter watched in anger as his fellow warriors were consumed by the Flood and he couldn't do anything to stop it.

By the time he was physically beside his fellow warriors again, the Flood has already consumed fully half of his warriors, although the humans were somehow still alive. Although the Flood's casualties were ten times higher than the casualties of the Elites, the Flood warriors kept on coming.

A Zealot was being hard pressed by three combat forms when he ran out of energy for his sword, he muttered an oath under his breath as he pulled out a plasma rifle and sprayed his enemies with plasma. The combat form took no notice of the plasma as it burned off half of its flesh. As the combat form was about to strike, it suddenly received an eight gauge magnum buckshot in its arm, causing it to rip off completely. The three Flood forms turned around and looked at the one responsible, the Arbiter, and charged at him instead. Two of them were down before the reached the Arbiter but the third one had a lucky shot and knocked the shotgun out of the Arbiter's hands. The Flood warrior struck again and again while the Arbiter defended himself as best as he could without a weapon. The Zealot tried to help but he couldn't fire his rifle into the fray, afraid that he might hit the Arbiter. The Zealot tried to pry the combat form off of the Arbiter, but another infected Elite came up behind him and broke his spine. The Zealot fell limply to the ground, dead.

Meanwhile, the Arbiter continued to wrestle with his opponent, and before long, his shields were drained. Then Flood warrior pulled back its arm to deliver the finishing blow but as he swung it, the arm blew right off of its hinges as a beam of green energy hit it. The flesh melted the arm detached just below the elbow. Both the Sangheili and parasite warriors looked in surprise as another shot hit the infection form in its chest cavity. As the Flood warrior fell, the Arbiter look at where the shot came from and saw Sergeant Johnson grinning at him, holding a carbine.

"You've saved me again. Thank you," was all the Arbiter said before picking up his shotgun and returned to fighting the Flood.

------------------------------

While the ex-Covenant and the two humans were busy fighting the Flood, a lone Longsword Fighter closes in on the Flood infested city of High Charity. Aboard the Longsword, three Spartans wearing MJOLNIR Mark IV armour watched the scene from above as they argued on what they should do.

"It looks like the enemy is fighting the Flood on down there," said the first Spartan, Stephen-072.

"We noticed, but what should we do about it? Should we let them fight it out and when one side's lost, we can go in and mop up the remaining forces?" said another Spartan, Charles-069.

"Or we can just leave and do nothing about it. It's their fight after all, and not ours," said the remaining Spartan, Jonathan-023.

"Let's bring the Longsword closer and get a closer view of what's going on. Then we can decide on what to do," suggested Stephen.

"Alright," said Charles as he pushed a series of buttons on the control panel. The Longsword Fighter's engines came to life as it started closing in on High Charity. When they were no more than two hundred metres above the city, Jonathan-023 noticed something.

"Hey, aren't those two humans? What are they doing fighting alongside the enemy?" asked Jonathan.

"Traitors! Goddam traitors!" roared Charles.

"Let's just shoot them all and be done with it," said Stephen.

"But shouldn't we at least take the two humans back so we can take them back to Earth? They could face the consequences of their actions there," said Jonathan.

"Alright fine, let's go," said Charles as he pushed some more buttons. The Longsword then unpacked its landing gear and slowly approached the ground. When they were no more than ten feet off the ground, a hail of plasma hit their exit hatch, fusing the metal on the hatch with the metal on the frame, effectively preventing them from getting out.

"Goddammit! I knew this was a bad idea! Now how the hell are we supposed to get out?" said Charles in rage.

"Chill out man, I got some cutting tools here," said Jonathan as he opened a bag and took out a high power laser.

"But then how are we supposed to escape one we're done?" inquired Stephen.

"We'll just hijack one of those Covenant cruisers or something. John's done it, why can't we? After we do that, then we'll fly that out. We were running out of fuel anyway on the Longsword," Jonathan said calmly.

"Alright, let's cut down this door and go kick some ass!" cried Stephen.

------------------------------

After a few more minutes of intense fighting, the Sangheili warriors suffered more losses. Although it wasn't as bad as the beginning, their defences were crumbling quickly. When the Arbiter saw another human ship approaching them, he ordered his warriors to fire upon the hatch where troops would come out so that the Flood that was inside couldn't get out unless they broke the hatch. That way, they wouldn't be completely swarmed under until they broke the hatch. When a spark emitted from the hatch, the Arbiter knew that whatever was in the ship had some sort of cutting tool. When a large block me metal fell away from the human craft, the Arbiter let out a gasp of surprise at what he saw.

------------------------------

"Alright, I almost have it!" said Jonathan as he cut through the metallic door with ease.

"Jon, Charles, take these," said Stephen as he picked up two fully loaded MA5B Assault Rifles and ten extra clips of ammo and tossed them to the two other Spartans. "Remember guys, we don't have energy shields like the rest of the Spartans do, so try not to get hit."

"Yes sir."

Stephen then turned and grabbed another MA5B Assault Rifle for himself. He then picked up about five clips of extra ammo for himself before he turned around. After a few more seconds of cutting, a large patch of metal fell away and landed with a loud clunk.

"Let's go," said Stephen as the three Spartans exited the Longsword Fighter.

------------------------------

_**A/N: If you're wondering how come there are Spartans here, it's because according to Halo: Fall of Reach (the book), three Spartans were away on distant missions and couldn't return to protect Reach. These three are the Spartans that were away.**_

_**Another A/N: Jonathan, Stephen, and Charles don't have shields because they weren't there when the rest of the Spartans got the shielded MJOLNIR suits because they were "too far away to be easily recalled". That's why they have the MJOLNIR Mark IV armour instead of the MJOLNIR Mark V armour.**_


	5. Chapter 4: Prophet's Demise

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

_**A/N: This is the rewrite version of Chapter 4: Prophet's Demise.**_

------------------------------

**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 4**

**Prophet's Demise**

------------------------------

The four Sangheili warriors and Spartan-117 snuck down the ancient halls of the Forerunner ship silently, not wanting to alert the guards of their presence or location. Every so often they'd meet a Brute or Jackal guard and they'd be put to sleep – permanently. Even though the Elites were satisfied that they were doing a good job of eliminating hostile forces quietly and with deadly efficiency, the Master Chief couldn't shake off the feeling that something bad was about to happen. When they reached the armory, he finally said he had on his mind.

"Hey, Lemanee. Don't you think this is too easy? When I fought the Brutes on High Charity, I had trouble keeping myself alive. Do you think that they're trying to lure us into a false sense of security, so that they can ambush us later on?" said John, voicing his concern.

"Hahaha," chuckled Melogee. "Maybe you're not the warrior we thought you were. These Jiralhanae are a race of-"

Whatever else the Jiralhanae was, the Master Chief never found out because just then, a crate full of grenades that was in front of them exploded in a deafening blast. A torrent of plasma washed over them. The two Zealots, Melogee and Ardonee, were immediately vaporized as the plasma drained their shields and burnt through their flesh in about half a second. The SpecOps leader, Lemanee, who was slightly behind them, lost all of his shields. The force of the explosion also knocked him back into a wall, denting his armour. The two soldiers bringing up the rear only received minimal damage – only about one tenth of their shields drained.

"By the Forerunners! What was that?" exclaimed Lemanee, as he struggled to rise. His question was answered when two dozen Brutes charged out of a door on the other side of the armory.

"Open fire! Kill these filthy animals!" roared Lemanee as he activated the brute plasma sword he picked up earlier. John and Gemenee opened fire with their beam rifles while Lemanee activated his energy sword and charged. Four shots were fired from their beam rifles and four Brute bodies fell limp as the deadly purple beams penetrated the Brutes' helmets and fried their brains. Unfortunately, the beam rifles overheated, preventing them from firing for another five seconds. The Elite and Spartan then both discarded their sniper weapons and drew out their carbines.

Meanwhile, Lemanee was in there cutting up Brutes left and right as he wielded his sword with deadly efficiency. The Brutes that rushed in were dumbstruck by the ferocity of their attacks and did nothing but run around and fire aimlessly for a few precious seconds. By the time the Brutes realized that they were being slaughtered and started firing their red plasma rifles at their intended targests, most of their comrades were already dead. The remaining Brutes went berserk and charged recklessly at the closest available living thing it can beat up, and in this case it was Lemanee.

The SpecOps Commander heard the roars of the Brutes behind him and turned around just in time to get a hairy shoulder in his chest, the force of the charged drained all of his shields, which was slowly recharging, as he went flying across the armory and landed with a thud, dropping his plasma sword in the process. He groaned as he got up and tried to defend himself. The Master Chief and the Elite who accompanied him fired at the Brutes with their carbines but the Brutes seem to shrug off the painful radioactive energy burns as if they were mosquito bites.

The Brute that knocked Lemanee flying charged at him again but this time, Lemanee was ready. He neatly sidestepped the Brute's assault at the last moment and slammed his elbow into the back of the Brute's neck. The sound of breaking bones was drowned out by the Brute's roar of agony. When Lemanee turned around, he found that the Spartan and Gemenee were being hard pressed by three Brutes. He picked up the brute energy sword he had dropped earlier and leapt into the fray. The Brutes were caught off guard as a red blade of plasma came out came out of nowhere and neatly decapitated one of them. The other two turned to face Lemanee as Gemenee and John bashed them with the butt of their carbines. One of them died instantly from a broken spine but the other just turned towards Gemenee and landed a solid blow to his face. Gemenee's shields flared but it held while Lemanee sliced the Brute in half diagonally with his sword. The head, neck, and its left arm slid off of the rest of its body. It was still alive somehow and the head moaned with pain. John them came out of nowhere and stomped on its face with one armoured boot. The Brute's skull was crushed by five hundred pounds of pressure and was instantly silenced. The trio then turned around to survey the scene.

"_Another two Elites gone,_" thought John. "_At this rate we'll never survive long enough to kill Truth._"

"_Filthy animals. You deserved what you got,_" thought Gemenee.

"The Prophets and Jiralhanae will pay for this," said Lemanee.

"We should probably stock up on weapons, ammo, and grenades right now. Since we're in an armory, there should be plenty," John suggested as he ejected the nearly spent energy pod on his carbine and slapped in a new one. He then picked up six spare pods. He also picked up a plasma pistol, and a plasma rifle. He also grabbed a Covenant waist holster, since his human one didn't have enough space for a plasma rifle and pistol. He then counted out four grenades and pocketed them as well.

"Why are all these crates here?" asked Lemanee. "Last time I was here, there weren't any of these boxes here."

"Leader, should I check what's inside?" asked Gemenee.

"Yes, go ahead," said Lemanee.

"By the Forerunners! Look at this! Why do the Jiralhanae have all these here?" gasped Gemenee as he bashed open one of the closed crates.

"What is it?" said John and Lemanee simultaneously.

"Human weapons..." said Gemenee.

"Really? Let me see this," said John, with a hint of curiosity and excitement. John walked over to the crate that Gemenee bashed open and he saw every weapon that the UNSC used against the Covenant. There were M6C Pistols, BR55 Rifles, MA5B Assault Rifles, M90 Shotguns and even two M41 SSR Rocket Launchers.

"Interesting...let's see what are in the other boxes," said John, trying to contain his excitement. The Spartans were trained to adapt to whatever weapon they could find on the battlefield, whether it's a plasma rifle, or a rock. However, the Spartans always preferred fighting with human weapons. John walked over to another crate and ripped it open. Inside that crate, there were hundreds of grenades, plasma, frag, and some other unrecognizable ones, all mixed together.

"Leader, we'll need these!" said an excited Gemenee as he went and picked out a few plasma grenades. They had never seen nor used those other grenades before, so they decided not to take any.

"There are three other boxes here. Let's see what kind of things are in them," said John, as he bashed open another crate. Hundreds of clips of ammo of every variety, whether they be human or Covenant, came pouring out. There were needler ammo pods, MA5B ammo, battle rifle ammo, shotgun ammo, fuel rod rounds, and even a few rockets. John then walked over to another crate and smashed it open. This time, sentinel beams fell out of the crate. The Chief and the two Elites decided not to take any because they were pretty much useless against Jackals and Brutes. The trio then approached the last box.

"You want the honours?" the Chief asked Lemanee.

"Alright," as he bashed open the crate with a mighty blow. About ten Flood infection forms came pouring out of the hole Lemanee created and tried to consume the three warriors. Luckily, the Elites and Spartan had shields so the Infection Forms just popped with they came in contact with them.

"What are these Brute idiots thinking of?" exclaimed John in disgust. "Don't they know what the Flood do?"

"Why have they kept the parasite in stasis like that? The Prophets ordered them to destroy all of the parasites they come across," exclaimed Lemanee in outrage.

"Maybe these filthy animals are planning to betray the Prophets, so that they can be the rulers," suggested Gemenee.

"We have no time to speculate about this. We have to get out now. There could be more Flood aboard this ship. If the Flood reaches Earth, millions of people could be infected. Then the Flood would use our ships and invade your worlds and try to keep collecting soldiers. Eventually they would win and the galaxy would be devoid of sentient life. It would be the same as if we activate the Halos right now. Except worse," said John.

"No Spartan, the High Prophet of Truth is within our grasp! If I remember correctly, the control room for this vessel is down the hall to the left," said Lemanee.

"Alright, but as soon as we're done with Truth, we're getting out of here and we're going to blow this ship up. Alright?" said Chief.

"Deal," agreed Lemanee. "Why don't we get some fresh weapons and ammo now?"

The two Elites then went to the various racks that were in the armory to pick up the familiar Covenant weapons that they've used all their lives while the Spartan went over to the box where the UNSC weapons were. The Elites each grabbed two energy sword shafts and put them as back up weapons. Lemanee then took a carbine as his primary weapon while Gemenee took two needlers. They then stocked up on extra ammo and grenades and waited for the Spartan to finish rearming himself.

John walked over to the crate with the UNSC weapons. He picked up a M90 Shotgun and two extra boxes of shells. He then discarded his plasma pistol and picked up an M7 SMG. Finally, he picked up three clips of SMG ammo, picked up four frag grenades and announced that he was ready.

The trio exited the armory and walked silently to the control room of the ancient Forerunner ship. When they arrived, they found four dead Brute Honour Guards dead at the entrance of the control room.

"Something's amiss here. Why would the Prophets kill their own Honour Guards?" asked Lemanee.

"I don't know leader. We should check inside the control room. Then maybe we'll find out what happened," suggested Gemenee.

As the ex-Covenant soldiers and the Spartans approached the door, the doors, sensing movement, automatically opened. They two Elites gasped at what they saw. Even the Spartan shuddered inwards at the terrifying sight.

The Prophet of Truth was in the room all right, but he was dead on the floor. However, it wasn't the dead Prophet that caused the three warriors to gasp and shudder. It was what accompanied it.

------------------------------

_**A/N: I just love cliffhangers. Don't you? Haha sorry. Anyway, I'm sorry that this chapter is a bit short but I finished this in a day…so it's good enough I guess. I think I should take more time to make longer chapters instead of doing a short chapter every two or three days. What do you think? Tell me in your reviews if you want me to keep writing a short chapter every couple of days, or write longer ones every couple of weeks. Keep in mind that no matter what you say, the final decision is still mine. Anyway, R&R please! Thanks!**_


	6. Chapter 5: Returning Spartans

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

_**A/N: This is the rewrite version of Chapter 5: Returning Spartans.**_

------------------------------

**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 5**

**Returning Spartans**

------------------------------

Everyone in the battle, including the Flood, stopped fighting to stare at the three augmented fighting machines as they exited their craft. The two beings that were most amazed by their entrance were not members of the ex-Covenant, but the two humans. After two seconds of eerie silence, the combatants seemed to remember that they were still in a battle, so the battle resumed.

"What's going on? Didn't all the Spartans except for Master Chief die on Reach?" asked a bewildered Commander Keyes, as she neutralized a combat form with two shots of her carbine.

"That's not true ma'am," grunted Sergeant Johnson as he took down three combat forms with his carbine. "Three other Spartans survived the glassing of Reach. Frederic-104, Linda-058, and William-043. Maybe that's them right there...but why are they wearing the old Spartan armour?"

"Well, we can ask them later, let's just try to stay alive for now," replied Keyes. She then ducked just in time to avoid a plasma rifle shot.

The Arbiter felt a shiver down his spine as he saw the Spartans. He had thought that all of the Demons were wiped out on the human planet Reach, but now, three more Demons came out of nowhere. Just then, a tentacle came out of nowhere and smacked the Arbiter in the face, the blow wasn't powerful enough to drain all of his shields, but it was strong enough to bring the Arbiter back to reality. The Arbiter quickly raised his shotgun and pumped a shotgun round into the creature. The spray of the bullets caught the Flood fighter right in the torso as the eight-gauge magnum round tore the infection form in its chest to pieces.

After a few more minutes of intense fighting, the Flood numbers diminished. The three Spartans finally cover the distance between their dropship and the ex-Covenant fighters. When two Elite Majors tried to greet them, the Spartans opened fire with their MA5B Assault Rifles, cutting them down in seconds.

"Wait!" cried Keyes. The three Spartans turned to stare at the commander.

"It's not in your place to speak, traitor," said Charles coldly.

"Traitors? We're not traitors!" exclaimed Keyes.

"Then why are you working along side the enemy? Not to mention that you're protecting them right now," demanded Charles.

"It's because the Grunts, Elites, and Hunters were betrayed by the rest of the Covenant. Now they're on our side so that they can get their revenge!" replied Keyes.

"You expect us to believe that?" asked Charles incredulously.

"It's true Demon. The Prophets and the Jiralhanae have betrayed us. All we want is revenge against them," interrupted the Arbiter.

"Did we give you permission to speak? No we didn't, so shut your damn trap," said Stephen.

The rest of the Elites were outraged at Stephen's reply, so they did what Elites usually do when they're insulted. They flexed their muscles, roared something about pride and the Forerunners, and drew their energy swords.

"Hey guys, chill out. Put your little toys away and let's try to talk about this in a civilized manner," said Johnson in response to the Elites' actions.

When the Elites didn't comply with that request, the Arbiter roared. "Put away your swords!"

The swords deactivated and the landing was suddenly a lot darker. "Good, now what were you sayin' Arbiter?"

"The Jiralhanae, the Brutes as you humans call them, and the Prophets have betrayed us. They have slaughtered many of our brethren and threw us out of the Covenant. The Covenant is now broken. Only the Jiralhanae, the Kig-Yar, and the Yanme'e remain in the Covenant." Then he saw the Spartans cock their heads slightly in confusion.

"What the hell are these Jiralhanae, Kig-Yar, and Yanme'e?" demanded Charles.

"Oh yeah. You weren't there when they appeared," muttered Johnson. "Well, they're the Covenant names for the species in 'em. Jiralhanae are the hairy apelike things. We call them Brutes. Kig-Yar are the Jackals, and the Yanme'e are the flying buggers. They're called Drones."

"I see. I suppose these Drones and...Brutes are new additions to the Covenant?" inquired Stephen.

"Well...we haven't seen them before...but I'm not sure if they were always there or not," replied Johnson. He looked at the Arbiter, hoping that he'd answer the question for him.

"Yes, the Yanme'e and the Jiralhanae were only recently introduced to the front lines. The Jiralhanae used to have only one role to play in the Covenant. To command ships, and to protect the Prophets, and even then, most of those roles were played by us Sangheili. However, ever since you Demons were created, we-" said the Arbiter, but was interrupted by Sergeant Johnson.

"By Demons, he actually means Spartans. Anyway, continue Arbiter."

"Ever since you...Spartans were created, us Sangheili have been shunned because every battle we've had on the ground with you Spartans, we've lost. The Prophets thought that we were getting lazy and incompetent, so they replaced many Sangheili warriors with Jiralhanae savages."

"I see. I guess we'll have to test this story out. We'll come with you...for now," replied Stephen after a moment of thought. "Anyway, who are you? What's your rank?" added Stephen. He nodded at Johnson.

"I'm Sergeant A. J. Johnson," said Johnson with pride.

"Nice to meet you Sergeant. Who are you?" Stephen asked Keyes.

"I'm Commander Keyes, commander of the ship _In Amber Clad_. Which, incidentally, crashed into High Charity because the Flood took it over."

"Whoa whoa...slow down. What's High Charity?" asked Jonathan.

"High Charity is what you're standing on right now. It's a Covenant Holy City. It's abandoned now because of the Flood infection."

"What's that?" asked Stephen.

"What? The Flood?"

"Yes."

"Well, the Flood is what you've been fighting a while ago. They're a parasitic life form that can infest any sentient being and turn it into one of their own."

"You mean those things-," Stephen gestured at the dead Flood bodies. " –used to be humans and Elites?"

"Yup," replied Johnson.

"Gross," shuddered Charles.

"Yeah. You want some proof that the humans and the Elites are allied?" asked Commander Keyes suddenly.

"Yeah. You bet we do," replied Stephen.

"Notice how in the last couple of minutes we've been talking, the Elites haven't attacked you yet?" pointed out Keyes. "If we weren't allied, we'd be dust by now."

The Spartans immediately raised their assault rifles, as if expecting a sudden attack from the Elites. When the Elites did nothing but stare at them as if they were insane, they lowered their weapons slightly.

"I guess you're right. Besides, those plasma swords can cut us in half in one slice, and that shotgun can penetrate our armour with ease. It seems that there's some merit to what you're saying," replied Jonathan.

"Alright, we'll accept what you're saying for now, but when we get back to Earth, we'll have our superiors decide what to do with you. Understood?" said Stephen.

"Whatever, let's just get out of this wretched place first. You got a ride for us?" asked Johnson.

"Well we did…until you melted the hatch on our Longsword back there," said Jonathan.

"I apologize for that. We thought it might've been a Flood controlled ship," said the Arbiter.

"It's alright. You got a ship for us so we can get out of here?" asked Jonathan.

"Yes. We are currently trying to get to that flagship over there. It's called the _Undefeated Glory_," replied the Arbiter.

"Alright let's go then, the sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can get this situation cleared up," said Stephen decisively.

Just as Stephen finished speaking, hundreds of Flood infection forms, combat forms, and carrier forms came down from the flagship's grav-lift.

"Looks like were gonna have to take this ship back from the Flood. These buggers are a pain in the ass," sighed Johnson under his breath as he shouldered his carbine once again and started shooting the combat forms in the chest, popping the infection form within.

The other warriors followed Johnson's lead by either firing upon the Flood from afar with long range weapons or hurling grenades into the massive army of Flood warriors. Before long, the air was filled with Flood spores, making the air difficult to breathe. The air wasn't completely unbreathable, but the stench was nasty. The Spartans and the Elites were okay due to their armour and air filters, but the two humans didn't have the expensive equipment the others did, so they succumbed to the stench, coughing. Jonathan-023 noticed that the two humans were starting to show signs of weakness and ran over to them, pumping three Flood warriors full of lead in the process.

"Hey, you two," he called out. "Get inside our Longsword. There should be a few gas masks in there. There will also be extra weapons, ammo, and grenades. After you put on the masks and restock on ammo, bring everything that you can carry. Weapons, grenades, whatever."

"Alright, we'll do it," gasped Keyes as she mentioned to Johnson to move. The two humans made their way to the broken Longsword without meeting any heavy resistance and were inside in a short period of time. Once they were inside, they went into the cockpit and sealed it. Waves of fresh air from the ship's air scrubbers hit their faces as they sighed in relief.

"Phew. That's a lot better," said Keyes. Then she looked at the large selection of weapons the Spartans had on this ship. "Whoa! How are we going to carry all of this?"

"We aren't. We're carrying whatever we can carry, but I think the most important things we have to bring are the clips of ammo," replied Johnson as he put on a standard UNSC gas mask.

"Alright, let's see what we have here," said Keyes as she walked over to the pile of guns. "Lots of Pistols…we have most of the variants here. We have M6D pistols and M6C Pistols. The automatic weapons are pretty impressive too. Plenty of M7 Submachine Guns, MA5B Assault Rifles. Two S2 AM Sniper Rifles and two M19 SSM Rocket Launchers. Not bad. Too bad they don't have any of the new stuff. I heard that they were developing a new kind of pistol and they were going to introduce a stronger version of the MA5B to the marines."

"That would be the M6E Pistol and the MA7B, ma'am."

"Wow. Too bad there aren't any shotguns here. They'd come in handy," said Keyes, who was still busy admiring the guns in front of her.

"With all due respect ma'am, I think we should get some of these out there so we can kick some more alien ass," said Johnson.

"Of course, Sergeant," replied Keyes as she picked up a large bag and started putting weapons, grenades, and ammo inside.

"Alright. I'll carry the bag, and you give me some cover. Okay?" asked Johnson.

"Okay, Sergeant, let's go," agreed Keyes as she exited the craft with Johnson following close behind. The battle outside had spread out and the members of the ex-Covenant were all separated so they were often fighting alone.

"Yo! People! I got some weapons and ammo! Get together in a group so some can reload while others give them cover!" cried Johnson. The Spartans and Elites appeared to hear them because they started to try to get back to where they were before Johnson and Keyes went to the Longsword. Then something unfortunate happened. Jonathan-023 was being hard pressed by five Elite combat forms and didn't notice the green blobs fired from a fuel rod cannon until it was too late. Jonathan tried to dodge the shot but it was too late. One shot melted his left arm and the other grazed the back of his neck, just above his fusion reactor pack. The combat forms fighting him were vaporized instantly.

Jonathan let his guard down a bit and went to examine his left arm because there didn't seem to be any more danger. However, he overlooked an infection form quickly rushing at him. The small Flood form leapt on Jonathan's neck and tried to tap into his spinal cord. Jonathan cried in pain as the infection form pierced his jugular vein. Johnson, hearing the Spartan's cry of pain quickly took out a sniper rifle from his sack, took aim, and shot the infection form in Jonathan's neck.

"Bullseye," smirked Johnson. Then he noticed something wrong. The Spartan wasn't moving. He didn't really have time to wonder what was going on because then two combat forms jumped at himself and Keyes. He took aim and shot the Infection Form in the warrior's body while Keyes sprayed the other with SMG rounds.

"Let's go," said Johnson as he picked up the bag of weapons again, after the Flood warriors were neutralized. The Commander and the Sergeant continued to fight their way to the designated meeting area, shooting any Flood that got in their way. Once they got there, most of the Flood had been eliminated. The Spartans and Elites demolished the rest of the Flood and turned their attention to Jonathan-023.

"What happened to him?" asked the Arbiter.

"An infection form was trying to turn him into one of them," replied Johnson, pointing at the numerous dead combat forms that littered High Charity, "so I shot it."

"What did you shoot him with?" inquired Stephen.

"The only loaded weapon I had and is effective over long distances was the...sniper...rifle..." replied Johnson as he realized what he had done.

"Okay, I think I know what happened to him," said Stephen as he took off Jonathan's helmet. It came off with a hiss. They turned him over so they could see the side of his neck, where the infection form got him. There were a few irregularly shaped holes and cuts made by the infection form in his neck, which, incidentally, is still bleeding. There was also another, rounder hole, where the sniper bullet penetrated.

"Oh, now I see what happened," said Keyes in a quiet voice. "When Johnson shot the infection form, the APFSDS round went right though the infection form and into his brain, killing him instantly."

"Shit! I didn't mean to do that! Oh shit man…shit! I swear I didn't…shit man…shit!" said Johnson.

"You friggin' traitor! You killed him you fu-" screamed Charles.

"Calm down Charles. This is better than being killed by the Flood and turned into one of them," said Stephen.

"Bastard…" was all Charles said; he seemed to be too angry to speak. His fingers were tightened on the trigger of his MA5B, but thankfully, he didn't shoot anyone.

"Anyway, moving on. Let's get into that flagship of yours and get off of this retched city," said Stephen.

"Fine," said Charles, suppressing his anger. "One second."

Charles bent down and opened the power pack on the back of Jonathan's armour and entered the fail-safe code. They had to get back to Earth, and they couldn't carry Jonathan all the way because they might encounter more Flood warriors. While the rest of the ex-Covenant and the humans are fighting, a infection form might sneak into Jonathan's already breached armour and infect him, and a Spartan-Flood isn't something they wanted to face. The fusion reactor which enabled him to move so fast would overload, and vaporizing anything within a ten meter radius.

"Alright. Let's go," said Charles as he put Jonathan's helmet back on started walking towards the _Undefeated Glory_'s grav-lift. Johnson picked up the bag of weapons, grenades, and ammo and followed suit. The rest of the small group of warriors followed the two and before long, they were all inside the ship.

After the warriors were in the _Undefeated Glory_, a blinding explosion took place barely fifty meters away from the flagship. Jonathan's fusion pack overloaded and blew a hole in the ground. It also vaporized all the Flood bodies around it.

------------------------------

"Let's rearm ourselves and then let's go find the crew that operates this ship," said the Arbiter as dug into the bag of weapons and pulled out a box of shotgun shells. He loaded his shotgun and gestured for the rest of the party to do the same. After everyone was geared up, the Arbiter walked towards one of the many doors.

"Follow me. I know the way to the control room of this flagship," he said, gesturing for the rest of his allies to follow him.

------------------------------

_**A/N: Yay another chapter…and another cliffhanger! Muahahaha! I'm evil…sorry. Anyway, if you want to know more about the "new" weapons I mentioned in the story, please look at my profile. Thanks for all the support and R&R please!**_

_**Another A/N: There's an inconsistency in the Official Walkthrough for Halo 2 and the little manual thing you get with the game. The Rocket Launcher models are either M41 SSR Rocket Launchers or M19 SSM Rocket Launchers, so from now on, M41 SSR will refer to the rockets that can home in on vehicles, but have a smaller blast radius while the M19 SSM will be more like the Halo 1 rockets: huge blast radius and no homing system.**_

_**Yet Another A/N: A reviewer mentioned that Sgt. Johnson was there when they picked up Linda, Fred and Will and would probably remember that there are more Spartans that are alive other than John-117. However, I didn't read Halo: The Flood or Halo: First Strike, so therefore excuse me for the mistakes. I will probably change it. Thanks for telling me about this error **_**Stupid Hermit ****_(yes that is his/her name for FFN)!_**


	7. Chapter 6: Gravemind

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

_**A/N: This is the rewrite version of Chapter 6: Gravemind.**_

------------------------------

**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 6**

**Gravemind**

------------------------------

The Gravemind waited in the control room of the giant Forerunner vessel patiently for the Spartan and his allies to arrive and sure enough, they arrived at the control room. The huge Flood creature towered over the three warriors as it sent tentacles rushing towards the three allies. The SpecOps leader and the Spartan jumped aside and the tentacles missed them by inches. However, the wounded SpecOps Elite, Gemenee, wasn't so lucky. The tentacle overloaded his shields on impact and slammed him into a wall. Then the tentacle held him in place while another rushed at him at lightning speed. The blow pierced right through the unfortunate Sangheili warrior as purple blood sprayed out of his chest. He screamed in agony but his screamed were cut short as another smaller tentacle rushed at him, hit him in the eye, and pierced his brain. The Gravemind then let go of the Elite and let the body drop to the ground.

"Attack my minions, infest these two creatures so that we have two more warriors to join our ranks," rumbled the Gravemind while simultaneously broadcasting its thoughts to the Flood who couldn't hear him. Hundreds of infection forms rushed towards the two warriors just as numerous combat forms leapt off walls and ceilings to confront them.

"Damn! There are too many of these guys around. We have to get out of here! Now!" cried John in alarm as he backpedaled while shooting the Flood with his shotgun.

"Don't be a coward! We can take them!" said Lemanee confidently as he disabled four combat forms with four shots of his carbine. However, infection forms close to the fallen combat forms revived them and in less than three seconds, they were up and fighting again.

"This is no time for heroics! There are too many and who knows what kind of powers the Gravemind has," replied John.

"No, those parasites are no problem for us," cried Lemanee as he discarded his carbine and drew both of his plasma swords.

"All right, but I'm going to run and get off of this ship if it looks hopeless. It will have to be destroyed or else both the humans and the Elites will be in danger," said the Spartan. Then he thought. "_I'm brave. Not reckless. I recognize a hopeless situation when I see one._"

"Alright," replied Lemanee as he cut apart three combat forms that jumped at him with a single swipe of his mighty blade. Fourteen combat forms leapt past Lemanee and headed straight for the Master Chief. He dropped his shotgun and drew his SMG and plasma rifle. He fired at the combat forms and dropped five with automatic fire. John kept firing his plasma rifle and SMG until the SMG clicked, signifying that there was no ammunition left in the magazine. A second later, the plasma rifle's emergency heat vents opened up as the plasma weapon ceased firing while it dumped waste heat. Six Flood warriors were cut down by this massive barrage of lead and plasma.

The three combat forms that survived the deluge of automatic fire landed and struck the Master Chief simultaneously, knocking the plasma rifle out of the Master Chief's hands and draining his shields by half. With the SMG out of ammo, the Master Chief couldn't do anything but to jam it into the infection form inside one of the combat form's chest, squishing the infection form within and neutralized it.

The Chief quickly dived for his M90 Shotgun. He grabbed it, rolled, and was back on his feet in an instant, with the shotgun in hand.

He took aim and pulled the trigger, not that he needed to aim to hit something at point blank range with a shotgun. The Flood warrior that received the blast was blown apart as the shotgun shot impacted on its body. This didn't stop the last one's relentless attack however. It just kept attacking and draining the Spartan's shield little by little. The Master Chief brought his shotgun around with one hand and pulled the trigger, the Flood fighter was blown apart but the recoil also cracked John's right arm.

"Damn!" cried John gritted his teeth in pain. Another combat form came out of nowhere and smashed into the Master Chief's shield, draining it completely. It swung again wit the other arm but the Master Chief ducked and escaped the blow by a hair. Ignoring the pain, he took up his shotgun again and pulled the trigger once more. If it weren't for the MJOLNIR armour holding this arm in place, John's arm would've shattered, even with his augmentations. John turned around to see Lemanee keeping five Flood warriors at bay with his twin Energy Swords. Lemanee swung his arm in an arc and cut apart two Flood warriors. However, the sword that he slashed with ran out of energy as the blade shimmered and died. The remaining combat forms, sensing the Elite's weakness, attacked at the same time. The impact made Lemanee drop his other sword and made his smash against a wall, his shields completely drained. John, seeing that his ally was in danger picked up his fallen plasma rifle and felled the three Flood soldiers by wildly spraying plasma in their direction.

"You may have won the battle, but you will lose the war," said Gravemind as his tentacles rushed towards Lemanee. Lemanee's shields just started to recharge so it didn't have the full protection of a fully charged energy shield. The Gravemind's first shot drained the Sangheili warrior's shields and dented his chest armour. The Spartan kept shooting the Gravemind and his tentacles but the plasma didn't seem to have any effect on the giant parasite overlord. His shots did make the Gravemind take notice of him because about ten Brute combat forms emerged from behind the Gravemind and charged at him.

"Oh shit," muttered John as he turned around and ran, knowing that he couldn't face them with an injured arm. The Gravemind finally got tired of toying with the Sangheili SpecOps commander and raised a huge tentacle and brought it down on the Elite's head. Upon impact, the Elite's spine snapped and he died instantly.

"Oh shit, I've got to get out of here and have Lord Hood destroy this ship!" muttered John as he ran, the Brute combat forms close on his heels. He contacted Hood using the COM system in his MJOLNIR armour and was communicating with Hood on the run.

"Admiral, I'm requesting immediate extraction. As soon as I'm off this ship, I need you to destroy it, no matter what the cost! Blow a hole in it with a MAC gun, nuke it, I don't care! As long as it's destroyed!" said John urgently as he turned a corner.

"Why destroy it? Hold on Chief, I think I need an explanation," said a confused Admiral.

"The Flood are on this ship! If they land on Earth, everyone will be in grave danger! Destroy it! For humanity's sake! I just found an escape pod. I'll be exiting the Forerunner ship in approximately thirty seconds! Destroy the Forerunner ship as soon as I'm off! Over!" cried Chief as he entered the foreign escape pod and sealed the doors. He heard the Brute combat forms outside trying to beat the doors in.

"Alright, we'll try to pick you up ASAP or you can try to land on Earth. Good luck, Master Chief. Hood out," said Hood.

"Okay then…how do you work this thing?" muttered John under his breath, wishing that Cortana was with him. She'd know what to do.

"_There's no time to think about her now, I have to get out of here,_" thought John. He then found a large red button on the ship.

"_I think this is it. I'll try it. I have nothing to lose,_" thought John as he hit the button. A holo-panel appeared on the dashboard of the small craft, full of alien symbols.

"_Aw man, this sucks,_" thought John as he pressed some random buttons hoping that one was them was the launch button. Apparently one of the buttons he pressed was the launch button because just then, the small craft lurched as it detached from the large Forerunner vessel and headed towards Earth.

------------------------------

The Gravemind was not content. Despite his best efforts, the MJOLNIR clad human still escaped.

"How did this happen? I'm supposed to be all powerful. The humans will undoubtedly destroy this ship to prevent me and my minions from landing on their home planet. Good thing this craft has a teleportation grid installed into it. Good thing that the grid is connected to four out of the seven Halos," thought the Gravemind in chagrin. "Damn those creatures. No matter, I've waited 100,000 years…a few more won't matter."

The Gravemind felt a shudder in the ship, no doubt the humans launching an attack. The Gravemind then tapped into the teleportation grid that was built into the ship and the Halos. He chose to land on Installation 07, Beta Halo, the second most powerful Halo installation in the galaxy. Its blast radius was twenty-four thousand light years. The Gravemind felt another shudder in the ship and decided that this was the time to leave.

"I'll be back, foolish creatures. And next time, you'll become mine," thought the Gravemind as he teleported himself.

------------------------------

"Wow, these Forerunners had very advanced technology" thought the Master Chief as the Forerunner craft entered Earth's atmosphere. Above him, Lord Hood ordered the Cairo and three nearby MAC stations to fire upon the Forerunner ship. Apparently the vessel was made up of a very dense material because it took nine MAC round to demolish the vessel. The pieces of the Forerunner ship streaked into Earth's atmosphere and landed in various areas; the material was too dense to be all burnt up. On many of the pieces of the destroyed ship, Flood infection forms hid in relative safety as the remains of the Forerunner vessel landed on Earth. The Master Chief barely felt it when his escape pod landed and only knew that it landed because the hatch automatically opened.

"Oh my god..." muttered John under his breath as he lifted his head to see what was in front of him. The destruction was horrible. Apparently the Brutes landed and slaughtered everyone they could get their hands on. Thousands of bodies, human and Brute, lay dead on the ground. Some of them had their heads torn off while others looked like they've had pieces bitten off of them, as if the Brutes tried to eat the dead corpses after they killed them. The buildings that stood in the city wasn't in much better shape. The once proud skyscrapers lay in ruins and charred stumps of metal. Cars big and small lay in flames, some overturned and others just plain blown up. He surveyed the scene for a while longer and then decided that nothing can be done here and it'd be better if he found some other humans, and maybe get his arm checked out. He then heard the faint but unmistakeable sound of a Warthog coming from behind him. He turned around and waited for the Warthog to approach him.

"Sir! Admiral Hood ordered me to bring you to the Pelican he arranged for you and then escort you to him," said the marine in the Warthog.

"Alright, let's go," said John as the marine drove him towards his ride to Cairo Station.

------------------------------

_**A/N: Another chapter complete! If you find any mistakes please tell me in your review or email me! R&R please! Thanks!**_


	8. Chapter 7: Old Friends and New Allies

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

_**A/N: This is the rewrite version of Chapter 7: Old Friends and New Allies.**_

------------------------------

**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 7**

**Old Friends and New Allies**

------------------------------

The group of surviving warriors followed the Arbiter to their destination, the control room of the massive Covenant Flagship, the _Undefeated Glory_. They passed through hallway after hallway, and periodically eliminating the Flood that lurked in the hallways. They also passed a couple groups of Brutes, which the Sangheili warriors terminated with great enthusiasm.

When they reached the control room, they found the shipmaster and most of the crew still alive. However, they were busy with a purple figure on one of the pedestals near the controls of the ship.

"Power down your defences so we can collect all the data you possess, construct, or we shall force it out of you," said the shipmaster, an Elite Ultra.

"I have three words for you mister. Kiss. My. Ass," retorted Cortana.

"Have it your way then…Zelemee, do what you do best," the Elite Ultra said with a grin as another Elite activated a holo-panel and started inputting instructions.

"Ahhh! Damn…" screamed Cortana as her colour changed from purple to a bright red. She then concentrated and countered the Covenant hacking system and her colour came back to her.

"Heh, is that the best you've got?" she scoffed.

"Hahaha, that's only the first step," said Zelemee as he raised his hand to input some more instructions into his holo-panel.

"Dammit. Arbiter, I'd appreciated a lot if they'd stop wreckin' Cortana over there," whisper Johnson as he nudged the Arbiter with his elbow.

"Zelemee! Put down your hand and leave the human Construct alone!" commanded the Arbiter as he stepped into the room, followed by the rest of the Elites, Johnson, and Keyes. When he said this, every Elite in the control room turned around to stare at the Arbiter.

"Arbiter! I thought you were dead!" said the shipmaster in surprise just as Cortana yelled, "Johnson! Keyes! What are you doing here?"

Then the two Spartans came through the door, much to the surprise of everyone in the control room, except for Johnson, Keyes, and the Arbiter.

"Demons!" growled an Elite Zealot as he activated his Plasma Sword.

"Stop!" commanded the Arbiter as he put himself between the sword and the Spartans. The Elite Zealot did as he was told but looked at the Arbiter in confusion.

"But Arbiter, why are-," asked the Zealot but he was silenced by a piercing look from the Arbiter.

"These humans, and Demons are with me. Anyone who threatens them will answer to me. Is that understood?" growled the Arbiter ominously.

"Yes Holy Arbiter," said the Zealot submissively.

"Before you start the reunion and get all teary, can you guys get me out of here? I think one of the Spartans should carry me," said Cortana.

"Agreed," replied the Arbiter before anyone objected.

"Oh good. Stephen-072, come pick me up," said Cortana.

"Sorry ma'am, but I don't have any room for you here," said Stephen.

"Why not?" asked Cortana. She crossed her arms.

"I don't have the extra memory-processor super-conductor in my helmet ma'am." He showed her the side of his helmet, which lacked a slot for Cortana's memory chip. "I can't slot you in with my MJOLNIR Mark IV. I've heard that they added an extra layer in the Mark V so that the wearers could slot in an AI." He shook his head. "Sorry."

"Damn. I guess I'll just stay in the ship for now. I'll be able to handle the jobs the Covenant AI would normally do...since I erased him because he tried to fight me."

"You do that. Anyway, Cortana, how did you end up with these split-chinned bastards?" asked Johnson. Several Elites growled and took a step towards Johnson but the Arbiter told them to lay off.

"Well, it's a long story," said Cortana. "You sure you want to hear it?"

"Yeah sure why not, in a minute though. Hey Arbiter, could we get this ship moving to Earth? Those dirty apes are probably already there," requested Johnson.

"Of course," said the Arbiter. Then he turned to the rest of the warriors in the control room and gave them their instructions.

"Warriors! When we get to the human home world, we will contact their leaders and we will make peace with these humans. The Great Journey was a sham-" several gasps could be heard but no one interrupted.

"-and these Prophets tried to use us to achieve a dream that did not exist! Well, the Prophets will fool us no more! We will annihilate them for betraying us and we shall burn their fleets as if they were no more than the lowliest vermin in the universe...because that's exactly what they are! The filthy Jiralhanae that guard the Prophets will die as well, for they have betrayed us and sided with the Prophets!" said the Arbiter as the rest of the Sangheili in the room roared in approval.

"These humans are innocent!" continued the Arbiter. "We have nothing against them! Our war isn't with the humans, but with the Prophets and Brutes and all who side with them! These humans proved again and again, that they are superb tacticians. They only fell before the onslaught of the Covenant because we had superior weaponry and numbers! I say we give these humans a chance to join our newfound alliance and we shall grind the Prophets and Jiralhanae into dust!"

The Arbiter's speech was broadcasted throughout the entire ship, as well as all the ships controlled by the Elites. There wasn't a single soul who disagreed with the Arbiter, although some wished that they didn't have to ally with humans.

"How touching," muttered Johnson.

"Shush Johnson," whispered Keyes before speaking up to the Elites before her. "I agree with what the Arbiter said and we could definitely use the extra firepower. This is my personal point of view though and I'm not sure how the rest of the human race would feel about having an alliance with a race that's slaughtered millions of ours."

"That is a tough problem, but our priority right now is to go to your home world. We can contact your leaders there and negotiate some sort of peace treaty," said the Arbiter.

"That might take a while since our superiors will probably be suspicious of us," replied Keyes. "They really have no reason to trust the Elites. I mean, we know better. They don't."

"Yes I see what you mean. There is no help for that however. If we want to save your home world and destroy the Prophets, we have to convince that we mean no harm," said the Arbiter. "Why are humans so stubborn?" added the Arbiter with a sigh.

"Well, if an alien race that has been trying to destroy yours for more than thirty years suddenly asked for peace, wouldn't you be suspicious too?"

"Yes, but we Sangheilis are an honourable race! We do not speak untruths about things like this,"

"We know that. You know that. But the rest of the human race doesn't know that. All they see is a race of murderous aliens that all deserve to die,"

"I see. We'll have to convince them otherwise. How many functional ships do we have?" the Arbiter asked the shipmaster.

"We have twenty ships here on High Charity, in addition to our own. We have more ships on the planets we have managed to seize from the Prophets and Jiralhanae," replied the shipmaster.

"Which planets have we taken control of?" inquired the Arbiter.

"Danaerun, Antraxia, Djydon, and Gyzame are ours while Iolone, Jinaeheili, and Morgawri belong to the Jiralhanae. All the other planets are still fighting for control," replied the shipmaster.

"They contacted you and told you this?" asked the Arbiter before he realized that the answer was obvious.

"Yes Holy Arbiter," replied the shipmaster overlooking the foolishness of the question.

"Good. Then tell the other ships that we are leaving High Charity. Tell them to accompany us to Danaerun, Antraxia, Djydon, and Gyzame to pick up all available forces so we may assist the humans in their attempts to repel the Covenant attacks at their home world," ordered the Arbiter.

"Yes Arbiter," said the shipmaster as he pressed a few holographic buttons to broadcast the Arbiter's orders.

"All ships. The Arbiter has given us an order. We are to go to Danaerun, Antraxia, Djydon, and Gyzame to pick up all the ships we can so we will have more strength when we fight the filthy Jiralhanae. Once we have picked up all the available forces, then we will go to the human homeworld to destroy them there! We will depart to Danaerun in one hour so everyone should warm up their slipspace engines sometime before then. Good luck," said the shipmaster over the ship's communications system. He turned off the communications system and turned to the Arbiter and said. "It's done. We will leave in one hour."

"Good," said the Arbiter. He then turned around to address the humans with an Elite's equivalent of a smile. "Would like anything to eat?"

"No thanks. I have some energy bars and water," replied Johnson.

"Suit yourself," replied the Arbiter before he turned to one of the lesser Elites. "Tell the chefs that we will be having the best food they can offer."

The Elite Minor nodded and hurried out of the control room. Fifteen minutes later, he came back with five other Elites clad in brown. They were all carrying large trays made of an alien metal with a large lid on it. The shipmaster then cleared a large table and the six tray bearing Elites put them down and opened their lids. What was inside made all the humans' mouths water, including the Spartans and it made the Elites' mandibles twitch. The Arbiter asked the humans again if they wanted to eat and this time, everyone said yes. Everyone sat down and the Arbiter led them all in a prayer for victory against the Prophets and then told them to enjoy their meal. Everyone started eating while Cortana explained what happened to her in the last few days. How the Master Chief followed Truth into the Forerunner ship in the middle of High Charity. How he had to leave her behind. The Spartans removed their helmets with a hiss, sniffed suspiciously at the food, then dug in.

"_These Demons are not so different from the other humans. They look the same except that they are taller...and more pale...iInteresting,_" thought the Arbiter.

The meal only took thirty minutes so the Elites and humans discussed plans for the future and the upcoming battle. About ten minutes before the designated departure time, the shipmaster stood up and activated the slipspace engines to warm them up and about five minutes before departure, the shipmaster informed the other ships that they were leaving in five minutes, in case they forgot, and to start warming up their slipspace engines, if they haven't done so already. When the time arrived, twenty-one ships, big and small, rose from High Charity and activated their slipspace engines and were gone.

------------------------------

A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long. I was on vacation and stuff. I think I should write larger chapters, don't you? Another question is whether I should put romance into the story. Some of my friends say yes and others say no…so…help me out here! Tell me what you think in the reviews and enjoy the chapter!

_**Another A/N: Since I haven't read Halo: The Flood or Halo: First Strike, I'm bound to make mistakes in this story and contradict the books a bit. I realize that the Covenant don't use minutes and hours and use Units or something but I have no clue how long a "Unit" is. Therefore, I'm going to stick to hours, minutes, days, etc. If you know anything really wrong with the storyline (i.e. contradicts many ideas from the Halo books/games), then please tell me and I will try to fix it. If it's just small things, I probably won't bother with it that much. Thanks for reading and please tell me what you think in your reviews!**_


	9. Chapter 8: Mjolnir Mark VII

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

_**A/N: This is the rewrite version of Chapter 8: Mjolnir Mark VII.**_

------------------------------

**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 8**

**Mjolnir Mark VII**

------------------------------

The Master Chief arrived at his personal Pelican without any serious opposition. The only thing that blocked his way was a lone Jackal, which the marine ran over with his Warthog, before they moved on. When he arrived at his Pelican, he immediately identified himself and went aboard. Fifteen minutes later, he was talking to Admiral Hood and filling him in on what happened in the last few days on Halo, High Charity, and the Forerunner ship. After giving the Admiral a full report he requested that a medic check out his arm. Hood agreed and led John to his own quarters and told him that medical personnel would be along shortly to check out his arm.

A doctor came along a few minutes later and took a look at his arm and told him that his radius was cracked and that a few days of rest should be able to fix it, since he was an augmented Spartan-II.

Following the doctor's instructions, he rested for about forty-eight hours. That's to say that he didn't board a Covenant ship and blow it up with explosives. Instead, he got briefed on Earth's current situation and discussed what to do next.

Shortly after being briefed by Admiral Hood on Earth's currant situation, he was called down to the armory. John was puzzled by this order but he was a soldier, and a soldier had to learn to obey orders without questions, so he proceeded to the armory. When he got there, he found Admiral Terrence Hood and a few others people, including Colonel James Ackerson. The others included Sergeant Richard Hills, Sergeant Henry Summers, and a Private Andrew Kirke, according to his HUD. Then, Sergeant Hills spoke.

"Well, I guess that we're all here then," he said, then he turned towards Hood, "Lord Hood. Would you like to do the honours?"

"Gladly," Hood replied. He then turned towards the Master Chief, "Chief, while you were away, we captured a Covenant active camouflage capsule. We studied it and we came up with a way to integrate it into the MJOLNIR armour. The camouflage will not last for a very long time, only ten seconds in fact, but it recharges every fifteen seconds. Also, when you fire your weapon, the camouflage will automatically deactivate and it will take another fifteen seconds to recharge. Your speed and reflex times are dramatically increased as well. Those are the major enhancements. There are minor changes that you should know about as well. The shield system is now a tiny bit stronger and your HUD now has stronger built in binoculars; 2x and 5x. The 'backpack' is also slightly smaller. I think that's it. You there, will be so kind to bring the new MJOLNIR Mark VII armour to us?" He pointed at a nearby technician and then at the new MJOLNIR Mark VII suit.

"Yes sir," said the man as he walked across the room to the modified cryo tube that held the Chief's new armour. Although cryo tubes were meant to store people while they were in slipspace, this particular one was modified so it became an impressive carrying case for the Chief's new armour.

The technician was lucky that the tube has wheels on the bottom or he wouldn't have been able to bring it over. He pushed the tube back to where the rest of them were waiting. "Here you go Admiral."

"Thank you," replied Hood. He then turned to the remaining technicians in the room and addressed them. "Would you three help the Chief with his new armour?"

"Yes sir," they replied in unison as they went over to the Chief. "Chief, I need you the stand still while we take off your armour."

The Master Chief grunted, but said nothing. He took off his helmet while the technicians took off the rest of his armour. The rest of the room averted their eyes since the Spartans don't wear any clothing underneath their armour. The technicians then put on his new armour. When they were done, everyone looked back at the newly equipped Spartan. After a moment of silence, Admiral Hood spoke again.

"Chief. We have an obstacle course set up for you in one of the larger derelict rooms on the Cairo. The purpose of this test is to see how efficient your new armour is. It will also tell us if anything malfunctions with your armour. Anyway, if you would follow me please," said Hood as he turned to leave.

"Yes sir," said Chief as he followed him. The rest of them then filed out after the Chief without speaking.

It took them a while to get to the room but they got there nonetheless. The room was very large, to say at the very least. It was at least three hundred meters by a kilometre. The ceiling was about fifteen meters high. The walls, ceiling, and even the floor were made of pure titanium-A, giving the room a shiny grey colour. The room was lighted by thousands of lights attached to the ceiling and there were many doors and windows in the room. There were many obstacles in the room such as cars, barbed wire, and some seemingly random titanium plates sticking out from the ground. Some of these things offered plenty of cover that can be used to John's advantage, while other didn't, and would only slow him down. At the other end of the room, there was a large maze filled with hidden traps that John couldn't see. There were also many Marines and ODST's in the many bunkers and windows.

"So what do you think Chief? You think you can handle it?" asked Hood. "These Marines and ODST's will be using live rounds against you. Your job is to neutralize anything or anyone that threatens you and get to the middle of that maze at the other end of the room. There will be a large red button there and when you press it, it will sound an alarm and inform everyone that you have accomplished your task."

"Yes sir," replied John.

"We'll be observing you from the observation room." Hood pointed to a large window behind him. "We'll be safer there considering there will be live rounds flying everywhere. Don't worry, the glass is coated with energy shielding strong enough to withstand an HV shell fired from a Scorpion's main cannon," then he grinned. "Another piece of technology we've stolen from the Covenant, soon we'll be using shields like these on our ships. Anyway, you just wait here until we tell you to start." He turned to leave but then he turned around and looked Master Chief again and said, "Good luck."

The Chief stood there for a few minutes, listening intently for the signal Lord Hood promised him, but that proved to be unnecessary. Lord Hood's voice came through the loudspeaker and his helmet's speaker simultaneously.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Yes sir," John replied.

"Good. You may start in ten seconds. The Marines will start shooting as soon as you move. You may use anything you can to your advantage and there are weapons scattered all over the place. Good luck," said Hood.

A countdown timer appeared on the Chief's HUD and it started counting down.

10...

"_Okay, this isn't anything you haven't-_"

9...

"_-done before, and this time-_"

8...

"_-you have better armour. Except-_"

7...

"_-this time you-_"

6...

"_-don't have-_"

5...

"_-Cortana._"

4...

"_Okay John, you can do-_"

3...

"_-this. Don't worry about-_"

2...

"_-the past; concentrate-_"

1...

"_-on what's happening-_"

0...

"_-now!_"

The Chief activated his active camo and sprinted towards the closest available cover. The marines and ODST's sprayed wildly with their submachine guns and assault rifles, hoping to hit the Chief and deactivate his camo. The Chief found two throwing knives and a M6C Pistol at the base of the titanium-A plate he was hiding behind. He waited fifteen seconds for his active camo to recharge and reactivated it again. He came out from behind his cover and threw the two knives in quick succession. Two Marines slumped to the ground, one with a knife in his chest, gasping for breath, and the other one with a knife through his neck. The loud crack of a sniper rifle was heard and the Chief's shields dropped to a quarter.

"_Damn, that was sloppy,_" thought the Chief as he ducked behind his cover again. The air was suddenly alive with gunfire now that everyone knew where the Chief was. Slowly but surely, the titanium-A was starting to erode from the hail of bullets that was hitting it. There was a break in the gunfire due to the fact everyone had to reload because they all started firing at the same time.

"_Lucky break..._" he thought as he grabbed the pistol, activated his camo, and ran towards the nearest bunker, which was about a hundred meters to his right. He sprinted there and kicked in the door. Unfortunately, the impact deactivated his camo. The five Marines inside the bunker turned in surprise and fired their weapons at the Chief, the combined fire of the assault rifles, SMGs, and battle rifles quickly brought the Chief's shields down to zero. The shield indicator blinked red on the Chief's HUD to show that he was vulnerable to attack. He clicked the safety off the pistol with his thumb and fired five shots rapidly, but with deadly accuracy. Two of the five Marines were dead before they hit the ground from headshots while the remaining marines screamed in pain when the bullets impacted upon their bodies. John didn't want to kill them so he punched their helmet in. The marines' eyes glazed over as they stopped screaming and fell to the ground one after another, unconscious.

He then noticed eleven dots on his motion tracker, and all of them were coming his way. He discarded his nearly spent pistol and picked up a battle rifle. He found a bag of ammunition and he reloaded the weapon. He checked his motion tracker again and noticed that the dots on the motion tracker were still relatively far away from his position. He picked up two SMGs and reloaded them one after another, and glanced at his motion tracker again. If the red dots were this close on his old MJOLNIR VI armour, they would be within ten metres of him. He activated his active camo again and stood up and looked outside. The marines approaching him were still twenty-five meters away. He deactivated his camo to let it recharge and dropped the SMGs. He picked up the battle rifle, crouch-walked to the left of the door, and waited for the marines to come in. One of the marines looked into the bunker just as John activated his camo again. He then motioned for the others to follow. When all of the marines came in, John's camo ran out.

One of the marines saw him and let out a startled yelp. Before he could do anything however, John jumped from his crouched position and rammed the Marine with his shoulder. The man's body flew into another marine and the momentum carried both of them into a wall. The remaining marines saw two of their fellow soldiers fly into a wall in surprise. It took a second for their brains to register what had just happened but by then, it was too late. Three more marines were unconscious by the time they turned around and two more were down before they started firing.

The four remaining marines pelted the Chief with bullets from their rifles but the Chief had his battle rifle ready. He nailed two of them straight in the face with two bursts from his rifle. The two remaining soldiers shot at him like crazy but they failed at draining all of his shields. The Chief dived, rolled, picked up the pistol he dropped earlier, threw it, and was back on his feet in one smooth motion. The pistol sailed through the air and hit one of the remaining marines in the forehead. His eyes glazed over and he collapsed like a rag doll.

The Chief turned around and found that the last marine stood frozen in place, unable to act. The Chief didn't give the man any time to recover as he grabbed his rifle, and kicked him in the chest. The soldier's ribs caved in and he crashed into a wall with a grunt. His body crumpled on the ground as blood started flowing from his mouth and nose.

_Damn. I shouldn't have killed them. The UNSC needs every man we can get to fight the Covenant..._

John looked around the bunker to see if he could find a useful long range weapon or some ammo. He was lucky because he found both. A S2 AM Sniper Rifle rested on a wall and a bag of ammo was right beside it. He picked up the sniper rifle and loaded it, then he looked out the door, searching for any other available cover. He found some more titanium-A plates jutting out of the ground and a Warthog, but he'd be in trouble if he was surrounded. When out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow move in one of the numerous windows bordering the room.

"_That window would be an ideal sniping position. Let's see what's in it,_" thought John as he aimed his S2 AM Sniper Rifle at the window. He zoomed in with the scope and activated the night vision. He immediately saw the silhouette of a man with a sniper rifle. He aimed for the man's shoulder and fired a single shot. The sniper screamed so loud that the Master Chief could've probably heard him even if he didn't have his MJOLNIR armour amplifying the sound for him.

"_Target neutralized._" John scanned the other windows within his sight, and disabled three more snipers, but didn't kill any of them. He reloaded the sniper rifle and grabbed four clips of extra ammo for it. He also picked the battle rifle he dropped earlier, reloaded it, and picked up seven clips of extra ammo for it. He looked out the door and saw that the Warthog was still there. He took aim and threw his battle rifle. The gun landed in the passenger seat and stayed there. He then took one of the SMGs that he dropped earlier and tossed it onto the Warthog as well. He also took four clips of ammo for it. As he exited the bunker, two ODST's spotted him from behind a titanium plate and shot at him with three round bursts from his battle rifle, the Chief ignored them at first but the shots just kept on coming, chipping his shields away little by little. He finally got tired of them after his shields have been drained by three quarters. John turned around, aimed, and fired his sniper rifle in about two seconds. The bullet went right through the first ODST's chest. The Master Chief tried to not kill him, but unfortunately, the bullet went through the man's heart.

The Chief turned to shoot at the other one, but he was already behind a nearby titanium-A plate. The Chief crouched down to make himself a smaller target and waited for the ODST to pop back out. After a while, the ODST's head peeked out to see if the coast was clear. It wasn't. A sniper bullet caught him right between the eyes. He crumpled to the ground without making a sound.

The Chief ran to the Warthog and got in the driver seat. He drove with one hand and held his SMG in the other so that he wasn't completely helpless when he encountered more resistance. After a few seconds of driving, he encountered another bunker. Since he didn't sneak up on them, a hail of bullets greeted him as he drove by, most of them missed but some shots hit their mark. The attackers didn't escape unscathed however. When the Master Chief drove by, most of them didn't realize that he held a submachine gun in his left hand until it was too late. Bullets pelted them and half of them got hit. Fortunately, only one person died. The Warthog was pretty beaten up in the process but it still worked. The Chief discarded his SMG, picked up his S2 AM Sniper Rifle, activated his active camo, and jumped out of the car. The Marines were confused as to where he went and made crude jokes to keep themselves from being too nervous. The Chief stealthily snuck behind his Warthog and kept only a bit of his head exposed so he could see. He took aim with his sniper rifle and fired. One of the marines was busy making a joke about how cowardly the Chief was when he suddenly stopped talking and toppled over. His friends didn't notice the hole in the side of his head until blood started seeping out. They gasped in surprise and looked around for their attacker but by then, another two were down.

One of the remaining marines spotted the Master Chief and threw a grenade at him. The grenade landed right underneath the Warthog and exploded. The Chief flinched back from the flames as it drained all of his shields. With the Warthog out of the way, the Marines now sighted their target with ease. John ran behind a titanium plate, hoping to get some cover from the hail of bullets, and he did, but not before three shots penetrated his leg. Pain seared up his leg, but he shrugged it off – pain was nothing to a Spartan like him. He waited till his shields and camo were recharged before he peaked out the side with his sniper rifle ready. A marine saw him poke his head out and pulled the pin of out a grenade and threw it at him. John, with his enhanced reflexes and aim, shot at the explosive with his rifle. The sniper round easily penetrated the grenade as it exploded in the face of the marine who threw it, killing him instantly. Everyone in the bunker was caught in the blast as well. Some died, some didn't, but either way they were all neutralized.

The Chief came out of his hiding position and ran towards the bunker. Luckily, no one tried to intercept him on the way there. Once inside, he found additional rounds for his sniper rifle. He also found some grenades, some battle rifles, assault rifles, and a M19 SSM Rocket Launcher loaded with a single shot. He tried to find some more ammo for the rocket launcher but he failed. Finally, he decided to leave the rocket launcher behind because it wasn't very practical to run around with a gun with only one shot in it. He took an MA7B Assault Rifle and four grenades instead. He exited the building and found another Warthog about a hundred and fifty metres to his left. He activated his camo, just in case there were snipers, and ran for it. When he was about twenty-five metres away from the Warthog, he suddenly heard a loud boom followed by a flash of light, and he instinctively looked away. Luckily, his helmet's auto-dampening system kicked in and dimmed the flash. Otherwise he would've been blinded for at least thirty seconds. When he turned around again, the Warthog was a smouldering ruin. He glanced to his right and his heart skipped a beat at what he saw.

It was a Scorpion tank.

------------------------------

_**A/N: In case you've forgotten, the M19 SSM Rocket Launcher is the non-tracking Rocket Launcher with the huge blast radius (similar to the Halo 1 rockets). The M41 SSR Rocket Launchers are the tracking rockets with the smaller blast radius.**_

_**Another A/N: The radius is a bone in a person's arm.**_

_**Yet Another A/N: A friend of mine, Emily, read this and fixed some spelling errors. Thanks Emily!**_


	10. Chapter 9: Gathering the Fleet

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

_**A/N: A friend of mine mentioned something called the Sharquoi or something. It's supposed to be like another species of the Covenant or something like that, but since I know nothing about it, chances are the 'Sharquoi' won't be in the story. This isn't set in stone though, keep that in mind.**_

------------------------------

**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 9**

**Gathering the Fleet**

------------------------------

"Hey you! Which planet will we arrive at first?" asked Charles as he pointed at the shipmaster.

"I have a name. Take heed of what you say to me. This is my ship and I can have you dead before you can lift a finger," growled the shipmaster.

"Well bring it on! You won't live long enough to regret your actions!"

"I knew you humans weren't trustworthy. You are as bad as the Jiralhanae!"

"Guys! Chill! If we kill each other now, we won't have anything left to throw at the Prophets and their ugly apes!" interrupted Johnson before the fight started.

"I concur with the human called Johnson," agreed Arbiter. "Our alliance must hold firm while we fight the Jiralhanae. All will be lost if we destroy each other now."

"You tell 'em Arbiter!" said Johnson. Then he added. "You can call me Sergeant Johnson by the way. Just Johnson will be okay too."

The Arbiter grunted in acknowledgement but said nothing. After a few seconds of uneasy silence, the shipmaster spoke again.

"My name is Ulna Xelakee, the shipmaster of the _Undefeated Glory_, and we are going to Antraxia first because it's the closest to us,"

"Thanks. I'm Charles." Most of the hostility in his voice was gone but traces of it still remained. "How long until we get there?"

"About four hours. Our slipspace drives may be stronger and more precise than yours, but it still takes a considerable amount of time to travel from system to system," replied the shipmaster. The hostility wasn't completely gone from his voice either.

The Arbiter sensed the tension between the two and spoke up. "We should get some rest before we get there. We don't know what will be waiting for us when we arrive,"

------------------------------

"We will be arriving at Antraxia in approximately five minutes, be alert for anything and everything that might board the ship," announced Xelakee at the end of their four hour ride.

"Gotcha," replied Keyes. Then she turned to Johnson and the Spartans "You heard the Elite, arm yourselves!"

"Yes ma'am!" replied Charles, Stephen, and Johnson in unison.

"The armory of this ship is this way, follow me please," announced the Arbiter while he turned to leave, bringing about ten Elites with him. Then he added, "The human weapons we brought aboard are there too. If you wish to use those, then you are welcome to."

Wordlessly, the humans followed the Elites out of the room and to the armory. Once there, they armed themselves with their desired weapons and headed back to the control room.

When they came back, they found Xelakee communicating with the planet Antraxia. An Elite with the mask of a Councillor member was on their view screen.

"We've successfully repelled three waves of attacks from the Covenant, and they were driven back into the Kalari System. We fear that Kalaris has been overrun and that the Jiralhanae are using it as a base," the Councillor said.

"We will confirm that later, what's your status?" asked Xelakee.

"All of our orbital plasma turrets are down except for five and our fleet is crippled from earlier firefights."

"How many operational ships do you have under your command?" interjected the Arbiter.

"Out of the forty-one ships that were originally stationed here, we have only three ships that are completely unharmed. Thirty-three ships are either destroyed, or damaged beyond repair."

"How many ships can be repaired and fully operational within twenty-four hours?"

"Two can be repaired in approximately two hours. The rest will not be fully functional for another ten days or so."

"We don't have that much time! As soon as you are finished with the two ships, send them up here with me."

"Yes Holy Arbiter," replied the Ultra Elite, "If you don't mind me asking, where are you going with all those ships?"

"Earth."

"Earth...sounds familiar. Isn't that the human homeworld?"

"Yes it is. The Jiralhanae and the Prophets are there. We will-"

"Arbiter! Look out! There are Demons behind you! There are humans as well!" exclaimed the Councillor Elite, noticing the Spartans, Johnson, and Keyes for the first time.

"The humans have agreed to assist us when we move against the Jiralhanae; we are in an alliance."

"I see. Very well, we will send the two ships up to you in two hours. We can not give you the three unharmed ones right now because the Jiralhanae might come back" replied the Ultra, although he tone was much colder.

"Understood...Thank you Kimatee."

But he never heard it because the screen went blank before the Arbiter finished thanking him. The Arbiter sighed. "I had hoped that Kimatee's hatred for humans had lessened during this crisis, but apparently it hasn't."

"Let's contact Kalaris to see who is controlling the planet," suggested Xelakee.

"Yes Arbiter," Xelakee replied. He tapped a holo-panel on the ship's controls and Covenant script started to run down the screen where the Councillor member was a few seconds ago. He moved his fingers over a circular pad and a slight humming noise could be heard. A few seconds later an Elite's face appeared on the screen.

"Arbiter! I thought you were dead! Where are you? What's going on?" exclaimed the Elite.

"Raku Yarimee. It has been a long time since we last spoke to each other. How are you holding out? Do you need any reinforments because we are currently holding position above Antraxia and we can get to you within two hours."

"The Jiralhanae have taken control of most of the planet but we still have the Sacred Forerunner Temple. We have walled ourselves in there using Forerunner technology. If we were to come out, the Jiralhanae will annihilate us."

"I see. We will be getting a few ships from Antraxia, then we will come to Kalaris to help you."

"Why only two ships? Why not the whole fleet?"

"The Jiralhanae attacked Antraxia earlier and destroyed or crippled most of the ships Antraxia had under their command. Luckily they were driven back but we can't leave Antraxia defenceless. These two ships are all Antraxia can spare."

"I see. The rest of the Sangheili warriors I have with me will hold out for as long as we can. The Jiralhanae will regret ever spilling Sangheili blood."

"Good luck Yarimee, and may the Forerunners watch over you."

"Thank you Arbiter."

The screen went blank again and the Arbiter turned around. "We will have to go to Kalaris before we go to Earth. We will have to-"

"Hey! What do you mean we have to go to Kalaris? Earth is gonna be overrun any minute and you're around sight seeing! Those Elites there are doomed anyway, even if we do try to help," cried Charles-069.

"Do not try to give orders on my ship human," growled Xelakee.

"I'll do whatever I damn well please you filthy alien!"

The room was completely silent as everyone was shocked by the Spartan's retort. "You have gone too far," growled Xelakee. "Time and time again you have tested my patience but this time you have crossed the line." He activated his Energy Sword with a hiss. "Your blood will run down my blade and I will-"

"Enough!" roared the Arbiter. "Xelakee! You know better than this! What sort of foolishness is this? Have you no self-control at all? That kind of behaviour is for the lowest of Unggoy! Have you no honour? Will you forget everything you've ever learned just because a single human insulted you?"

While the Arbiter was reprimanding Xelakee, Commander Miranda Keyes was yelling at Charles-069 about how bad his behaviour was, although she wasn't quite so loud about it.

"Petty Officer! These Elites are our allies! We can't go around treating them like this! Besides, we're at their mercy right now. You've seen how strong of a warrior the Arbiter is. I doubt that even you two Spartans can get us out of here alive if everyone on the ship turned on us!"

"Yes ma'am," submitted Charles reluctantly.

"I want your word that you won't ever insult these Elites again," continued Keyes.

"Yes ma'am," said Charles, although it was obvious that he would've preferred fighting everyone on the ship than to respect and obey Xelakee.

After several minutes of the Arbiter yelling at Xelakee and Keyes doing the same to Charles, things became quiet again. Then Xelakee noticed something on the ship's radar.

"Arbiter! There is a human vessel approaching our position in normal space!" Xelakee exclaimed.

Commander Keyes and Sergeant Johnson jerked their heads up in curiosity. The Spartans were also slightly startled but they weren't quite obvious about it.

"How far away is it?" asked Keyes and the Arbiter simultaneously. The Arbiter and Commander Keyes turned to each other and stared. The Arbiter looked slightly amused but Keyes looked a little embarrassed.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"It is quite all right. It is in your nature to be curious about your kind. However, I will have to ask that you remain silent for now...please."

Johnson looked liked he was going to retort but Keyes laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Okay," she replied.

The Arbiter turned back to Xelakee. "How far away are they?"

"Approximately one hundred and fifty thousand kilometres away from us."

"How long will it take them to reach us?"

"In about three hours Holy Arbiter. They are merely drifting and are not gaining any speed at all."

"I see. Xelakee, plot an intercept course towards that ship. We will see what this is about soon enough."

"Yes Arbiter," replied Xelakee as he accelerated the _Undefeated _Glory towards the human vessel.

The _Undefeated Glory_ slowly decelerated as it approached the unnamed human ship. When it was within range, it opened up a gravity beam and slowly pulled the ship into one of the larger docking bays. Swarms of Elite Rangers with special cutting equipment started to cut down parts of the Titanium-A plating on the ship. Once through that, platoons of Elites and Grunts were sent in to capture anyone in there and bring them to the control room of the _Undefeated Glory_ alive.

After about two hours, several high ranking Elites brought in something that surprised them all. The limp form of a Spartan was carried in by four Elites while several others escorted a very scared and surprised Dr. Halsey.

------------------------------

_**A/N: This chapter was kind of a filler...the only reason I wrote this is to recruit another "lost" Spartan into this war. After everyone's united, the chapters will get a lot better...I think...**_


	11. Chapter 10: Reunion

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

_**A/N: I'm rewriting most of my chapters and updating them with more details (since so many people said I need to use adjectives more and pace the story a bit slower) and maybe some additional fight scenes and stuff like that, so...while you're waiting for the next chapter, you might want to go read chapters 1 through 9 again. The Prologue will not be changed though, since it's taken directly from the end cinematic of Halo 2.**_

------------------------------

**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 10**

**Reunion**

------------------------------

"I didn't know that they'd be using a Scorpion to test his new armour, did you?" Sergeant Hills asked no one in particular.

"No, I'm pretty sure they were only supposed to use live rounds, not tanks," replied Private Kirke.

"Sir," Sergeant Summers addressed the Admiral.

"Yes Sergeant?"

"Did you authorize the use of tanks?"

"No, I did not. I don't know who did this. Colonel Ackerson, do you?"

"No Admiral, I do not," Ackerson replied, although he shifted his feet uneasily, as if he knew something the other didn't.

"When I find out who did this, they will be very sorry indeed," Hood muttered under his breath.

Colonel James Ackerson fidgeted a bit more.

------------------------------

Meanwhile, a couple hundred meters from where Hood and Ackerson were standing, a Spartan was busy battling with a M808B Scorpion MBT. Although he hated killing humans, he was forced to kill many in this training mission. He spared as many as he could but his number one objective was still to reach the buzzer in the centre of the maze alive. As a soldier, he did what he had to do to achieve his goal.

Now, a Scorpion, one of the most powerful land based anti-vehicle and anti-personnel vehicles, stood him his way.

The tank fired its lethal 90mm HV shell again, missing the Master Chief by a hair. Even with his new Mjolnir Armour, he felt the heat of the blast for a full two seconds before the gel-layers in his suit cooled down enough to counter the heat. John clicked the safety off of his MA7B Assault Rifle and fired five rounds into the tank, but they didn't do any noticeable damage to the tank. He heard the click of another HV shell being loaded into the Scorpion's cannon and ducked. The shell impacted on the wall behind him a left a huge crater where the shell exploded.

"_I don't want to be caught in that._"

He activated his active camouflage and ran back towards the bunker to retrieve the M19 SSM Rocket Launcher he saw earlier. The Scorpion, unable to find its target, began to shoot wildly with its secondary weapon, a 7.62mm armour piercing machine gun. Luckily, he reached the bunker without being hit and found that the rocket launcher was still intact. Once inside, he deactivated his camo to let it recharge. He discarded his MA7B and shouldered the rocket launcher. He also took a submachine gun and holstered it.

A large explosion took place on the other side of the bunker from where he stood. The force of the explosion knocked him back into a wall while pieces of Titanium-A, big or small bounced off of him. The tank seems to have spotted him among the debris because just then the tank's machine gun kicked in and sprayed the Chief with 7.62mm bullets. The bullets impacted upon his shields, draining it bit by bit.

"_If I was in my old Mark V armour, or even my Mark VI armour, I'd be dead by now._"

Using his super sensitive hearing, he heard the click of the main cannon being loaded again.

"_Oh boy._"

The Chief took up the rocket launcher, aimed, and fired at the tank just as the Scorpion fired its main cannon. The two explosives collided in mid-air and, in unison, exploded barely five meters in front of John.

The force of the blast drained all of John's shields and charred most of his armour and knocked him through a foot of solid Titanium-A.

John lay on the cold, hard titanium floor outside of the destroyed bunker, breathing heavily. He could taste copper in his mouth and his ears hurt, due to the loud noise of the explosion that took place barely five meters in front of him. His eyes hurt from the flash of light, despite his suit's auto-dampening system, before he was knocked backwards through a foot of titanium.

"_Damn._"

Then he noticed that the belt of grenades he had with him...or what was left of it. A tiny piece of fabric and a few screwed up pieces of metal was all that's left of the belt.

"_Wow, am I lucky or what?_"

He crawled behind the part of the bunker that was still standing, so that the tank driver couldn't see him. By this time, his shields and active camo were already recharged. He looked around for a weapon and found that the metal on the rocket launcher had fused together. The SMG he was with him was fused to his armour. He peeled it off, and then he checked if it still worked. He pulled the trigger of the automatic UNSC weapon and, to his surprise, two bullets shot out and bounced off of the titanium floor and rebounded upon his shields. His shields went down by a hair and promptly began to charge again. He then checked his HUD and found that it still had twenty-one bullets in the clip. His shields were full, and his active camo was ready to go.

"_Good enough._"

John's green-black form suddenly disappeared from behind the bunker. Using his enhanced speed, he was able to reach the tank before his camo wore out. The tank driver appeared to think that John was dead, for it was retreating towards a large titanium garage door in the wall.

John took an almighty leap and landed on the back of the tank, just as his camo ran out.

------------------------------

"_Oh my god. I can't believe I just did that! A Spartan...dead...by my hands! Oh my god...Colonel Ackerson will be pleased..._"

_Clank_. The tank shook a bit, but otherwise, it appeared to be fine.

"What was that?" Sergeant Jacob Jones exclaimed out loud.

_Bam_! The hatch above his head now has a fist shaped dent in it.

"_Aw crap..._"

The hatch shrieked and protested while a superior force wrenched it apart. After a few seconds, the latch on the hatch broke, and whatever was above him threw it away as if it was a toy. A cyborg clad in bright green armour peered into the cockpit and looked down at the unfortunate man. Jones pulled out his handgun, a standard M6C Pistol, and took aim. The Spartan grabbed his wrist before he could do anything and spoke.

"Let go of the gun, and I'll spare your life."

"Never! You traitor!"

He tried to pull the trigger but before he could even put half an ounce of pressure on it, his hand exploded in blood. He screamed once before a green blur rushed towards his face and into his brain.

------------------------------

John-117 brought a fist down upon the cockpit hatch on the Scorpion and the hatch broke easily under his enhanced strength. A few more blows and an almighty tug got rid of the hatch once and for all. John pulled himself up a bit more and peered into the cockpit just in time to see the driver pull out a M6C Pistol. The man pointed the handgun towards the Chief with surprising agility, for a human. He was no match for an augmented Spartan however, let alone an augmented Spartan in his MJOLNIR armour. Before he could fire a single shot, the Master Chief's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist.

"Let go of the gun, and I'll spare your life."

"Never! You traitor!"

The Chief saw the muscles in his arm tense, so he acted with superhuman speed. His armoured hand tightened on the other man's wrist as it exploded in blood. The man screamed in pain once just as the Chief's follow up attack commenced. He brought his armoured hand back and aimed a deadly attack towards the man's face. Sergeant Jacob Jones didn't even have time to scream before his life was ended.

"_Dammit! These are good men and women I'm killing! They can be fighting the Covenant right now instead of me! What was Admiral Hood thinking of? And what did he mean by traitor?_"

The Chief then realized that he squatted immobile on the tank for almost ten seconds.

"_Damn! What's wrong with me? Why do I keep getting distracted?_"

He quickly jumped up, grabbed the barrel of the main cannon on the tank and twisted it into something resembling a pretzel. He landed on the ground and leapt up again, this time grabbing the machine gun on the tank and ripped it off of its mount, rendering the Scorpion weapon-less and, essentially, useless.

He activated his camo again and sprinted as fast as he could towards the destroyed bunker, hoping to salvage anything that he can use. Once there, he found the MA7B Assault Rifle in surprisingly good condition. He bent down, picked it up, and checked the ammo counter on the rifle and found it just as he left it: fifty-five rounds out of sixty. He discarded the SMG that he had with him and exchanged it for the MA7B.

The Master Chief grabbed a waist holster and strapped it onto his armour. He found two M6E Pistols intact along with three additional clips for it. He holstered them. He found only one extra clip for the MA7B however.

The Chief peaked around the pile of debris that we a solid Titanium-A bunker, and saw that the maze was a full a hundred and fifty metres of nothing. Nothing to hide behind, no weapons...no enemies, and just a whole floor of titanium.

John activated his camo and sprinted out of his hiding place. He could run at seventy miles per hour now, thanks to the new MJOLNIR VII armour, without even working up a sweat. He made it into the maze about a second before his camo ran out. He dove behind a wall, so that he wouldn't be a target for snipers, and waited for his camo to charge.

As soon as his camo bar was filled, he activated it again and ran through the maze. He encountered a lone marine, which he quickly dispatched with a punch that dented the marine's helmet. The soldier slumped to the ground with a barely audible groan, unconscious. The Master Chief picked up his body and put it in a corner, so that other marines and ODSTs wouldn't see it.

He waited for his camo to charge again, then he continued on. The next group proved to be more troublesome. There were five ODSTs in this division, but they were all relaxed and chatting to each other.

"That freak won't stand a chance against that tank Jacob's got," one of them said.

"Yeah, besides, even if he does get pass the tank, he'll have to deal with us!" another one of them replied. The rest of them cheered.

"_Nice and relaxed targets...perfect._"

He activated his camo and jumped sprang at the ODSTs. The first one was about to say something when he suddenly flew forward at a frightening speed, knocking one of his buddies into a wall, rendering them both unconscious. The rest turned around and gasped at the Spartan that stood before them.

If they were new soldiers, they probably would've stayed frozen in place and stared at the Chief instead of fighting him. Long enough for the Chief to neutralize them all anyway. These ODSTs however, weren't green. Each was a seasoned veteran and fought the Covenant many times before, so they knew what staying still for two seconds can cost you. The two closest ODSTs fired their weapons – a BR55 Rifle, and an MA7B. Bullets pinged off his MJOLNIR armour's shields, draining it by a quarter. The Chief reacted with almost lightning speed. He dove and aimed a well placed melee attack to one of the men's shins. The man howled in pain and sprayed bullets everywhere as both his legs shattered. A lucky – or unlucky, depending on which side you're on – shot hit his partner in the leg six times, causing him to fall down and cry in pain. Both men were in shock. The Chief got up and found the last ODST about three meters away from him aiming a M90 Shotgun at him.

"_Oh shit..._"

"Say your prayers, jackass!"

The ODST fired at almost point blank range at the Chief. With his shields already weakened by the hail of bullets hitting his shields before, it couldn't stand against the might of the M90. His shields popped and collapsed but none of the bullets went through it.

"What the hell!" yelled the ODST as he pumped the shotgun again, preparing to fire. The Chief gave him no such chance. He lashed out with his leg, breaking both of his shins. The man went down, but managed to shoot his shotgun one more time before he went down – which, incidentally, shattered the man's arm, in addition to his legs. The shot went wide and missed the Chief. Soon after, he fainted because of the pain. He went to the other two who were still in shock, and punched in their helmets, rendering them unconscious as well. He searched all of the marines, grabbed some ammo for his MA7B, and also a belt of six grenades, which he strapped to his waist. The Chief proceeded through the maze.

After several minutes, the Chief neutralized a few more groups of marines – with only one KIA. He also destroyed a few hostile machine gun turrets.

After what seemed to be forever, even though it was only ten minutes, he finally located the room that held the objective – a big red button that sounded a buzzer, which signifies the end of the test. The only problem was that the room was armed to the teeth. Half a dozen marines manned machine gun turrets, and another half dozen manned stationary Gauss Cannons – designed to take out Spectres, Ghosts, Banshees, Shadows, and the occasional Phantom. Another dozen ODSTs occupied the room, armed with BR55 Rifles, MA7B Assault Rifles, and M90 Shotguns.

Even the Chief couldn't neutralize all of them without killing at least some of them. He activated his camo, primed two grenades, waited three seconds, and threw them at the Gauss Cannons – since they were most likely to kill him – and ducked back out of sight. Several men gasped in surprised and yelled orders for the rest of them not to panic as the grenades sailed through the air. The twin explosives detonated just above the Gauss Cannons. The explosion ripped through one of the cannon's tiny fusion reactors and it, in turn, vaporized the rest of them. Seven people were caught in the blast as well – and perished. The marines looked around, trying to figure out why the cannons had exploded, and where the grenades came from.

During the confusion, the Chief went in and sprayed bullets at the marines and ODSTs. The shots ripped through the humans like a hot knife through butter. Almost all of them collapsed and went into shock or unconsciousness as the bullets hit their legs, arms, and torsos. Unfortunately, there were also four KIAs, resulting from accidental headshots. The marines manning the gun turrets – the two that were left – rotated their turrets as quickly as they could to track the Chief, but it wasn't fast enough. He took only seven blows to his shields – which drained it by a quarter – before he circled around them and bashed in each of their helmets. They dropped like rag dolls.

He looked around the room and made sure that there we no further traps surrounding the buzzer, and proceeded slowly towards it, being wary of any traps the marines might've left behind. He didn't find any, and pressed the red button.

Admiral Hood's voice spoke over the intercom. "All units in Training Room 2D, the exercise is over. The Master Chief has won. Colonel Ackerson, call of your men please."

"Yes sir. All units, you are to stop firing at the Master Chief. Standby for further orders."

The Master Chief made his way out of the maze and as he was about to exit the exercise field, Ackerson's voice came on the loudspeakers again.

"All units! Kill the traitor!"

More than thirty men burst from a number of doors along the titanium wall, armed with various weapons, from the relatively weak M6C Pistols, to the standard BR55 Rifles, to M90 Shotguns. The Chief's shields were strong, but not that strong. Under combined fire, it dropped very quickly. The marines and ODSTs fired at the Chief, draining his shields by half during the first two seconds. The Chief raised this MA7B and fired. Two shots came out before the bolt on his gun locked open. The ammo counter read 00 – empty. Realizing that without a weapon, he'd be dead before he can even get close so did the next best thing. He threw the rifle at them, hoping that they'd be distracted a bit, and ran.

While he ran, he heard the loudspeaker on again, and Admiral Hood was speaking, but he couldn't tell what he was saying due to the noise of the gunfire. A warning light blinked on and off oh his HUD, telling him that his shields were low. Another few shots and the indicator started beeping, informing him that his shields were completely gone. Ignoring the blinking light and the shrill noise, he pulled the pins from all three of his remaining grenades, and threw them behind his back without looking. Three roars could be heard as the grenades detonated one after another.

The gunfire lessened for a while, due to the smoke and confusion, and the Chief took this chance to get to the door. He reached the titanium door, opened it and shut it behind him. He could hear the bullets as it pinged off the door.

"_What is this? What is wrong with them?_"

Just then the loudspeaker turned on again. "If anyone sees Colonel Ackerson, escort him to the bridge of Cairo Station. Be warned that he is armed and dangerous and probably will not hesitate to hurt you. Use force to take him if it's necessary. He is guilty of treason, for he has sent three whole squads of ODSTs to kill the Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117. Catch him at all costs. Hood out."

A moment later, he could hear footsteps coming his way, at first he thought they were more of Ackerson's men, but when they turned the corner, he could tell that they weren't. There were only eleven soldiers in the squad but he knew that they would win against the Colonel's men.

The soldier in front spoke as the Chief's shields recharged. "Nice to see you again Chief. What are our orders?"

"Nice to see you too Fred. They're beyond that door."

"How many are there? Sir?"

"About thirty. I'll need a better weapon than these." He pulled out his two pistols. "I don't want to miss out on the fight."

"Here Chief," said another member of the squad as she tossed him a pair of SMGs and two clips of ammo – more than enough to take down three squads of ODSTs. He snatched them out of midair.

"Thanks Linda. Now lets get to work."

An explosion could be heard from the other side of the door. The door hinges snapped and the door fell towards the Chief and his Spartans.

"One more thing, try not to kill too many of them."

Three acknowledgement lights winked on and all the marines said "Sir yes sir!" as gunfire rang out in this derelict part of the Cairo.

The marines fired into the mass of ODSTs on the other side. The door was only about two meters wide, so no more than four ODSTs fit through at the same time. As they came though, they were cut down by bullets fired from the Spartans' and the marines' weapons. All of the ODSTs were soon all out of action, but no one had been killed. Some were mortally wounded, but that couldn't be helped.

More footsteps could be heard from behind them and everyone in his squad turned around with their weapons ready. This proved to be unnecessary since it was Admiral Hood with a 'clean up crew'. All the rebel ODSTs were soon patched up, stripped of their weapons, and escorted to holding cells.

"Good work Chief," greeted the Admiral.

"Thank you sir."

"Now let's get you patched up. I understand that your armour was breached in your left leg during this...operation."

"Yes sir."

"Let's get that fixed up. We have technicians up in Armory 2C. Your orders are to go up to the First Aid station and get that bullet wound checked out. I'm sure you'll be patched up in no time. Then you are to take off your new MJOLNIR VII armour and bring it to Armory 2C for repairs. Your MJOLNIR VI armour has been brought up to the First Aid station already and you are to wear that at all times until your Mark VII is fixed up. Understood?"

"Yes sir."

"After you deliver your Mark VII to the Armory, you are to report to the bridge of the Cairo for further briefing. Is that clear?"

"Crystal, sir."

"Good, now get to it." He turned to leave, but then added. "Spartan-104, -058, and -043, you are welcome to accompany the Master Chief if you'd like."

Admiral Hood left in the direction of the bridge while the four Spartans made their way towards the First Aid station.

"Fred, Will, Linda, good to see you again," said John. He stuck out two of his fingers and swiped it across his face place. The other three returned the gesture.

"So when are we going to be back killing the Covenant again, sir?" asked Fred eagerly.

"Soon enough Fred, soon enough."

------------------------------

_**A/N: If you were wondering where Fred, Linda, and Will came from, they were doing other various duties for the UNSC while John-117 was on Halo kicking Covenant and Flood ass.**_


	12. Chapter 11: Spartan 087

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

------------------------------

**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 11**

**Spartan 087**

------------------------------

_Where the hell am I? Why am I lying on a...bed? Are these Covenant bastards running tests on me? Damn...they took my armour too...that's bad news..._

Spartan-087, Kelly, opened her eyes to see Dr. Halsey looking down at her with a worried expression on her face.

"Doctor Halsey," greeted Kelly.

"It's nice to see that you're finally coming around. I was beginning to worry about you," smiled Dr. Halsey.

"Where are we? What happened?" she sat up and her blanket fell away from her.

"We've been captured by the Covenant, although captured might not be the right word. Here, put on your armour." Dr. Halsey pointed at Kelly's MJOLNIR Mark V armour, which was resting against her "bed".

"Yes ma'am," replied Kelly, noticing for the first time that she wasn't wearing any clothes. She blushed slightly and began putting on her armour.

"I'll be back in a second. Wait here," Dr. Halsey told Kelly.

"Yes doctor."

A moment later, the Dr. Halsey returned...with an Elite three feet behind her. It was no Elite like she had ever seen. It wore some type of ceremonial armour, but unlike the ones worn by the Elite Honour Guards. That didn't matter to her much. What mattered was that Doctor Halsey was in great danger.

"Look out doctor!" cried Kelly as she sprinted past the doctor and aimed a kick at the alien's thighs.

"Kelly! No!" cried Dr. Halsey.

The Elite moved with surprising agility and dodged her attack. Kelly was shocked. No one, not even the Master Chief, could dodge her attacks if she was really trying to them. The best they could do was block it and counterattack. The alien grabbed her leg and picked her up bodily, preparing to slam her into a wall.

"That enough Arbiter. She doesn't know what's happening yet."

The Arbiter grunted and dropped Kelly as gently as he could. However, dropping a Spartan who weighed half a ton couldn't be done with much grace, so Kelly landed on the ground with a loud clank.

The alien let his guard down a bit, Kelly sensed. It must be what the doctor said. It must be confused. She rolled to her feet and kicked the alien again. Her foot came in contact with his personal energy shield. The energy barrier encasing the Elite shimmered, but didn't fade. The Elite grunted when she kicked him because he wasn't expecting it. She went to strike him again, but she was stopped by Dr. Halsey.

"Kelly. Stop it." Dr. Halsey said with a trace of annoyance in her voice.

"But ma'am! He's the enemy! His race captured us and put us on this retched ship!"

"That's not entirely true. The Elites did capture us, but only knocked you out because you fought back. You killed several of them I believe, before you were overcome."

Kelly nodded.

"Yes, after they brought us aboard the ship, they put you here and brought me to meet the rest of the crew. They explained to me that the Elites, Grunts, and the Hunters were thrown out of the Covenant."

"But wouldn't that mean that the Jackals are all that's left?"

"No, Kelly. Apparently, there are three other races that are in the Covenant that we haven't seen. First, there are the Prophets. They're the leaders of the Covenant. Then there are the Brutes. They're giant gorillas and fights like savages and their role in the Covenant is largely unknown to us, although they appeared to be guardians of some sort. Well, they were, now they're the main commanders of the Covenant."

Kelly nodded. "What's the last race?"

"I was getting there before you interrupted me," Doctor Halsey said crisply. "Lastly, there are the Drones. They're insectlike and can fly, which is a big problem."

"How do you know they're telling the truth?" Kelly asked the Doctor while eyeing the Arbiter suspiciously.

"I would explain it to you, but it's a lot easier if I showed it to you." She turned towards the Arbiter. "Could you lead the way please? I'm not quite familiar with this ship yet."

"My pleasure," was the Arbiter's reply. He gestured for Dr. Halsey and Kelly to follow him. "Follow me please."

"Doctor? Should we trust him?"

"Yes Kelly, now come on!" replied Dr. Halsey with exasperation.

-------------------------------

The Arbiter, Dr. Halsey, and Kelly-087 made their way to the control room of the flagship, the _Undefeated Glory_. When the arrived, Kelly's jaw dropped, not that anyone else saw it.

Spartan-069 and Spartan-072 turned around and greeted Kelly by swiping their fingers across their faceplates. Kelly returned the gesture. It was the Spartan equivalent of a smile, since they couldn't see each other's faces.

"Where's Jonathan? I thought he was with you," asked Kelly, not using the short form 'Jon' because it sounded the same as John.

"He...died," replied Charles.

"How? When?"

"When we were retaking this ship. The Flood got him."

"No! How?"

"Well, our armour doesn't have shield generators likes yours, so one of the little things jumped on him and tried to turn him into one of them. Sergeant Johnson here-" He nodded in Johnson's direction. "-shot the little bastard with a sniper rifle, but the shot killed him as well."

Kelly turned around slowly towards Sergeant Johnson. Johnson thought she was going to yell at him or even attack him, but she did neither.

"Thank you Sergeant. You saved him from a great deal of suffering. It's a lot better to die this way than to be eaten alive by those infectious parasites," she said softly.

"It was the least I could do ma'am," replied Johnson, somewhat taken aback. He was expecting a lecture or a rave.

"Now, let's get down to business. Stephen, fill me in on what's happening."

"Well, you already know that the Elites, Grunts, and Hunters have separated from the rest of the Covenant."

"Yes, go on."

"Well, we were trying to rally the remaining ex-Covenant forces so we can mount a proper offensive against the Covenant. I mean, with only twenty-one ships, we can't do much against the Covenant's hundreds of ships."

"True. What's the Earth's situation?"

"We don't know. As soon as we finish gathering our fleet, we'll go there to check it out."

"How long will that take?"

"A few days, probably."

"A few days? Earth will be overrun by then!"

"No, it won't. The Master Chief himself is aboard the ship that the Prophet of Truth is currently on. I'm sure he'll stall the Covenant advance," Cortana interrupted.

"John's alive? What about the others? Linda, Fred, Grace, and Will?"

"Grace was killed during Operation First Strike, I'll provide you with a report later. I don't know about the other three though, but being the Spartans that they are, I know that they're still fighting the Covenant."

"Yeah...where are we? And what are we doing now?"

"We are currently waiting for Kimatee to send us the two ships he's repairing. Even though it's only two ships that he's sending us, it'll have to be enough. Anything to help us in this war is appreciated."

"I see. How long will we have to wait? Earth could be in grave danger right now and I don't want to sit around while our homeworld is being destroyed."

"You were out cold for quite a while, so I'd expect another ten minutes or so," said Halsey.

"Great. I think we should warm up our slipspace drives now, so we can jump quickly to another system to pick up more ships."

"It's already been done...Spartan," said the Elite with the strange archaic armour.

"Oh good, and ah...sorry for attacking you before. I didn't know about this alliance back then," apologized Kelly.

"It's no problem. If I were in your situation, I would've done the same."

Just then, the main view screen flickered on again. A white armoured Elite appeared.

"So I see another Demon has joined your ranks," he said with such obvious disgust and hatred that Kelly was slightly taken aback. She probably should've been prepared, but she wasn't. She had assumed that all of the Elites had their minds on a peace treaty with the Humans and wanted to destroy what's left in the Covenant. She was wrong. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense to her. Her own race would feel the same about the Elites.

"Yes. Are the ships ready yet, Kimatee?"

"Yes, Arbiter. I will be sending them to you in five minutes."

"Thank you, Kimatee."

"Now go and make the Prophets and the Jiralhanae suffer."

"We will."

"Good luck, and may the Forerunners watch over you."

"Thank you."

Five minutes later, two destroyers, which identified themselves as the _Betrayed Truth _and the _Peculiar Binding_. The names of the ships weren't changed since the Prophets betrayed the Elites, which made the name of the ship _Betrayed Truth_ somewhat ironic.

"Let's leave and go to the Kalari system, to check on Yarimee, and the rest of our brothers and sisters there," said the Arbiter.

"Yes, Holy Arbiter," replied Xelakee. "All ships! Prepare to jump to the Kalari system in sixty seconds." He broadcasted over the COM system of the _Undefeated Glory_.

"Wait, hold on! We have some useful weapons and equipment aboard the _Chiroptera_-class ship. I'd rather not lose them," said Kelly.

"Don't worry Kelly. Shortly after they brought us aboard this ship," Dr. Halsey nodded towards the Arbiter and Xelakee. "We went back and retrieved all the weapons and equipment. They're in this ship's main armory."

"Oh. In that case, fire away Arbiter." She paused. "Can someone take me to the armory? I would feel much better with a weapon in my hands." She flexed her fingers.

The Arbiter was about to appoint a Minor Elite to escort Kelly to the armory, but Charles interrupted. "We'll take her. We've been there already and we know where it is."

"Thank you. Spartans," said the Arbiter. Then he added. "Hurry back, we may need you on the bridge."

"Will do," replied Stephen as the three Spartans walked out of the control room.

They arrived at the armory and found many different weapons there. Neatly stacked on the shelves and racks were Covenant weapons, and the human weapons were in a pile in the corner. Kelly, passed the Covenant weapons completely and moved on to the human weapons. Charles and Stephen looked at each other but said nothing. Kelly grabbed a MA5B Assault Rifle – a weapon that she's trained with all her life – and two M6C Pistols. She picked up extra ammo for both weapons and proceeded back towards the control room.

Once back, the Arbiter advised everyone that they should get some rest and most of the Elites took his advice. Sergeant Johnson and Commander Keyes took his advice as well. Doctor Halsey and the Spartans however, stood on the bridge with the Arbiter and Xelakee. They also took the time to install Covenant shield generators on Charles' and Stephen's MJOLNIR Mark IV armour, but unlike Kelly's shields, their shield generators were outside of the suit, which unfortunately, made it easier to destroy.

------------------------------

About two hours after the _Undefeated Glory_ left Antraxia, it shuddered as it came out of the slipspace steam and various Grunts and Elites were sent to wake everyone up.

"We have arrived at the Kalari system," said the Arbiter.

"Yeah, I kind of figured," replied Charles. The Arbiter ignored his remark.

"Which planet is Kalaris?" Kelly asked.

"The fourth from the star."

"I see. Let's go and see if there are any Covenant forces around the planet," the Arbiter said. Then he spoke into the COM system, giving orders to the other ships. "Power up your plasma turrets and get your Seraphs ready. We don't know what kind of surprises the Covenant have planned for us."

The _Undefeated Glory_, followed by the rest of the Covenant ships, powered up their weapons and slowly approached the planet Kalaris. When they passed a relatively small planet on their way to Kalaris, three frigates came out from the dark side of the planet and tried to ambush them. The ex-Covenant fleet was prepared for an ambush, so they launched an immediate counterattack. Pulse beams and plasma torpedoes ripped through the frigates before they even had a chance to launch an attack.

"Wow. That was easy," remarked Stephen in surprise.

"Yes. Too easy. They must have another trap here. Either that or Kalaris put up a really strong fight," replied the Arbiter. Then he spoke to Xelakee. "Xelakee, scan the planet. See what kind of a force occupies it."

"Yes Holy Arbiter," replied Xelakee as he scanned the surface with his ship's sophisticated sensors. After a moment, Xelakee spoke again. "Arbiter, most of the planet has been ravaged and burned by the Jiralhanae. However, my sensors picked up a large ground force around the Sacred Forerunner Temple."

"Looks like we'll have to go down there and take them out ourselves," said Kelly.

"Yup," replied Charles. He turned towards the Arbiter. "Can you spare a few Elites and Grunts? We might need them to take on those Brutes and Jackals."

"Yes, we'll send approximately two thousand Sangheili warriors and four thousand Unggoy troops. We can also spare a hundred Wraiths, a hundred Banshees, and two hundred Ghosts."

"Good enough. Let's go," said Stephen as he picked up his assault rifle and shouldered it for dramatic emphasis.

Just then, the door to the control room opened and a humming blue orb floated in muttering.

He then looked at the main view screen, which still showed the Forerunner temple. Its humming grew noticeably louder.

"A Forerunner temple! At long last! I had feared that they might've been destroyed in the _Great Purge_ but apparently not. These are some very important data stored in each of the temples' data banks, and it cannot be remotely obtained. You must take me there. I'm afraid I have to insist," said 343 Guilty Spark

"You? Insist? Ha! You're not coming and that's final. You contain too much information and if you were to fall into the Covenant's hands, who knows what may happen," snorted Charles.

"Me? Captured? How dare you suggest such a thing?" the Monitor asked incredulously.

"Well, weren't you captured by us?" Charles asked in a smug tone. The blue glow dimmed slightly.

"No, Reclaimer. I followed the...Arbiter, as you call him, and the other two Reclaimers here on purpose. It was intentional," replied 343 Guilty Spark.

"You're not going, and that's final!" growled Charles.

"You have no choice, Reclaimer. You have to take me in order to obtain the information from the data banks of this installation," the Monitor said merrily.

"Let him go, Petty Officer," said Keyes.

"But ma'am..."

"He's shown that he's capable of staying alive...if alive is the right word."

"Fine. Come along, if you must," growled Charles.

"I intend to," replied 343 Guilty Spark lightly.

"Are you and Sergeant Johnson coming, ma'am?" asked Charles.

"Johnson will be coming along with you, but I won't. I'm going to keep Doctor Halsey company while you guys go groundside." Commander Keyes smiled.

"Has everything been decided?" asked the Arbiter.

"Yes. Let's go. Lead the way please," replied Charles.

"I shall," said the Arbiter. The three Spartans and Sergeant Johnson followed the Arbiter to a Phantom and boarded it. Then the landing bay shields disappeared, and two hundred Phantoms and fifty Seraphs shot towards the surface of Kalaris.

While aboard the Phantom, the Arbiter briefed Johnson and the Spartans on their mission, and of his plans.

"Humans. I have a plan that can end what we came here to do quickly," he began.

"Then what are waiting for? Tell us!" said Johnson.

"I think we should take the Holy Oracle with us. Then we shall circle around and sneak inside the temple. There we shall gather the data, and take the rest of the remaining Sangheili warriors with us when we escape. We can then seal off the temple."

"That is a good plan. I know of a way to get into the temple, although I can't guarantee that the other species don't know about it," said 343 Guilty Spark.

"If they do, then we'll fight them to get through. We have to rescue Yarimee and the others."

"This information must be retrieved as well. It is vital to the activation of the Ark."

The silence was deafening. The Arbiter and Johnson stared open mouthed at Guilty Spark.

"What is it? What's wrong?" the Monitor asked.

"The Ark, that's where we go to remote activate all them damn Halos right?" Johnson asked.

"Correct. It is where we will go to activate Installation 02 through 08. Although sadly, Installation 04 can't be activated due to the fact that it's been destroyed."

"If the Halos are Installations two through eight, then what's Installation 01?"

"Installation 01 is the Ark," replied the Monitor in annoyance. "Don't you Reclaimers know anything?"

Everyone chose to ignore that comment. They remained silent for a while then the Arbiter spoke again.

"Do you all agree with my plan?"

"Yes. We do. Johnson, do you think you can keep up with us? If you can't then you can stay with the rest of the Elites, if you'd like," Kelly offered.

"Me? Not be able to keep up? Are you outta your mind? There ain't nothin' Sergeant Johnson can't handle. I'll come with ya," Sergeant Johnson replied, sounding slightly hurt and insulted. "Besides, I can pick targets off from a kilometre away. You'll need those skills. Trust me."

"Fine. Just don't get hurt okay?"

The Sergeant smiled.

"And you, Guilty Spark. Go ahead and open the backdoor of the temple for us. Then find us and lead us to it."

The Monitor floated away, humming.

-----------------------------

"What can we do? We have to find a way to get out of here before the Jiralhanae overwhelms us," yelled Yarimee as she fired the alien Forerunner weapon in her hands. A bright blue beam came out of the end of the weapon and four Jackals and an unlucky Brute was immediately vaporized.

"The Arbiter will come and get us. I'm sure of it," cried a gold Elite, a Zealot, confidently. He was holding a weapon similar to Yarimee's except when he fired, a golden bolt of energy shot out and a Brute was immediately fried..

"You'd better be right," Yarimee grunted as she fired another beam at the Brutes.

------------------------------

The point man, or woman in this case, raised her hand and everyone went stopped walking and ducked to hide themselves in the tall grass.

"What is it Blue-One?" Blue-Two, Charles asked over his COM. Johnson, the Arbiter, and the rest of the Spartans were also using the same frequency, so they could all hear what everyone else had to say.

"A Jackal patrol."

"How many?" asked Blue-Three – Stephen.

"Ten. What should we do? Should we pass them by? Or should we take them out?" Kelly asked.

"Take them out," said Blue-Four, the Arbiter.

"I agree. If we just pass them, they'll just come back to haunt us later. Let's kill them," said Blue-Five, Sergeant Johnson. His hand rested on the trigger of his S2 AM Sniper Rifle.

"They're coming this way, I guess it'll take them thirty seconds to get to us at the rate they're moving right now. When I attack, follow my lead. Silenced rounds only. Johnson, I'm sorry but you can't use that sniper rifle now. It's too loud."

"No problem ma'am. I brought 'old faithful' with me." He leaned his sniper rifle against a tree and unslung his assault rifle. He pulled out a magazine from one of his ammo pouches and loaded the rifle. He thumbed the safety off.

They waited another few seconds and Kelly sprang into action. She fired a quick burst of rounds into the rear guard while Charles fired his silenced battle rifle into the Jackal point man. The two Jackals fell unceremoniously in a pool of their own blood. The patrol halted. Several Jackals activated their personal energy shields and waved their plasma pistols around wildly, hoping to find their attackers. Two of the Jackals completely panicked and fired wildly everywhere, without even bothering to activate their shields. A burst of silenced MA5B rounds from Johnson's assault rifle silenced them. Unfortunately, one of the Jackals saw Johnson's gun muzzle flare. It squawked and pointed at Johnson's hiding place and all the other Jackals turned and fired at where it pointed. It squawks were cut short when six bolts of plasma came through the tall grass and mutilated its face. The Jackal fell, but it had succeeded in revealing Johnson's location to its squad mates.

Plasma burnt the grass in front of Johnson and exposed him. Johnson tried to shoot them but most of his rounds hit their reflective energy shields and bounced off. Johnson was about to take out a grenade when Kelly warned him not to via his radio.

"Don't use any explosives Blue-Five. Hang tight, we'll take care of them. Try not to get hurt," was what Kelly said.

The grass behind the Jackals moved. Then a series of coughs could be heard from that direction. Bullets went through the Jackals bodies and blood splattered against the insides of their shields. The last remaining Jackal turned around to meet its new attacker, which exposed its back to Johnson. He fired his silenced MA5B and the Jackal squealed in pain as the bullets tore through its fragile body. It fell and twitched a bit, and then it laid still.

Johnson muttered his thanks and stood up. Kelly bent down and wrenched a personal arm shield off one of the dead Jackals and handed it to Johnson.

"Here, take this," she said as she handed him the device. There were two buttons on it. Johnson put it on and saw that there were two buttons on it. He pressed one of them and a shimmering yellow shield appeared. The weight of the plasma shield unbalanced him, and almost made him fall. He grunted and pressed the other button and the shield collapsed.

"This is a handy little thing," he said.

"Don't use it unless you have to though. The brightness might give away our position," Kelly warned.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Let's move out," said Kelly.

Blue Team moved on and continued on their way. After about three kilometres, they heard Banshees coming from the direction they were heading in.

"Hide!" hissed Kelly over her COM as she melted into the grass. The rest of Blue Team did the same.

The Banshees passed without noticing them. In the distance, they could hear the sounds of the battle starting. The whines of Banshees and Phantoms, and the explosions of plasma mortars shot from Wraiths, could be heard as they Covenant and the ex-Covenant forces fought each other.

"This way please," said a voice, coming out of nowhere.

"Where have you been?" hissed Blue-Two.

"In the future, try not to ask such ridiculous questions, Reclaimer."

"Just answer me dammit!" Blue-Two demanded.

"If you wish." The Monitor actually seemed to sigh. "I've been at the Forerunner Installation opening the back doors."

"Good. Thank you," said Stephen.

"No problem. Now let's go before the other creatures find the entrance."

"Lead on."

"Follow me please." The Monitor started humming and zoomed towards their destination.

Blue-Team made their way through another four kilometres of tall grass until they finally came to a cliff face.

"Wait a minute please," said Guilty Spark as he floated away. After several minutes, the cliff face shook a bit and a grinding noise could be heard. Parts of the cliff fell away to reveal a shiny metal door. The door then opened.

"This way," said Guilty Spark. He floated down the hall humming. "Ah, I am a genius!"

"I wish he wouldn't do that," said Charles.

"Do what?" asked Stephen.

"Hum. His humming is so frickin' annoying."

"Oh well. Deal with it. He's helping us in this war."

"Yeah...I guess."

"It's not much farther. Let me open the doors. Please, continue down this hallway," said Guilty Spark as he left again.

Blue-Team made their way down the hall cautiously. After all, being careful never hurt anyone, unless you were being careful to hurt someone...

Finally, after ten minutes of navigating the halls of the Forerunner temple, they finally arrived at their destination. A pedestal stood in the centre of the room and holograms where everywhere. Guilty Spark hummed joyfully and downloaded the information from the pedestal.

"Good, we can leave now," he said after he was done.

"What? But we have to rescue Yarimee first!"

"What? Oh...that." A trace of annoyance could be heard in his voice. "I'll get them."

Almost as if on queue, the other door in the control room, the one they didn't come in from, burst open and several Elites staggered in, followed by about ten Jackals and Brutes.

"Yarimee!" cried the Arbiter as he ran towards her, letting loose his plasma sword with a hiss.

"Arbiter!" replied Yarimee as she turned around, forgetting that she was still battling and foolishly leaving her side exposed.

A Brute, sensing her weakness, rammed her with its shoulder. Her shields shimmered and collapsed as the Brute knocked her to the ground. Yarimee gasped in pain as she made contact with the ground. The Brute was about to body slam her and crush her with its weight when something caught its attention.

"Oi! Mother fucker!" yelled Johnson as he shot a short burst of assault rifle rounds at the Brute. It turned towards Johnson and growled its hatred. It was about to say something, but the Arbiter ran up behind it and stuck his sword in the back of its head. The Brute died without making a sound.

All around Johnson, the Arbiter, and Yarimee, the Spartans and the remaining Elites made short work of the Covenant soldiers.

Soon, the fight was over and everyone was stained with Jackal and Brute blood.

"Everyone all right?" asked Johnson.

"Yes. Thank you...Human," said Yarimee. Only sixteen Elites, other than herself, survived. Excluding the Arbiter.

"Anytime," replied Johnson, smiling.

"Let's get out of here before the Brutes send reinforcements to try to stop us," suggested Kelly.

"Good idea," replied Yarimee. "Let's go."

Luckily, Blue Team, Guilty Spark, and their newfound friends made their way back to their landing site without encountering any resistance. They found a Phantom and went back aboard the _Undefeated Glory_.

"Xelakee!" gasped the Arbiter as he came in the control room. "Give the order for all units to retreat! We have done what we have come here to do." He paused. "We will glass this place after all of our troops are back aboard the ships...or we'll glass at least where the Brute strongholds are."

"Yes, Arbiter," replied Xelakee. He then gave the order using the ship's COM system. Within two hours, every Grunt and Elite have withdrawn.

"Oh, one more thing Arbiter. We have called all the ships from Fanaerun, Djydon, and Gyzame to this location. After we're done here, we can head to Earth," said Xelakee.

"Good work, Xelakee," said the Arbiter.

After waiting about thirty minutes, seventy-three Covenant ships came out of slipspace. They identified themselves as friendlies. Another thirty minutes past and half of Kalaris looked like glass.

"Let's go to Earth and finish this," said the Arbiter.

"Yes...let's," agreed Xelakee. He gave his order and soon after, all the ex-Covenant ships jumped out of the Kalari system and headed towards the Sol system.

------------------------------

_**A/N: The weapons Yarimee and company were using were NOT Sentinel Beams. They were something...new. Something more destructive; another glimpse into the advanced technology of the Forerunners. Anyway...R&R please!**_


	13. Chapter 12: Back to Earth

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

------------------------------

**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 12**

**Back to Earth**

------------------------------

Ensign Trevor Hourigan stepped into his duty station and turned on the main viewscreen.

"I see you're back," said the computer in a dry and raspy voice.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm back," replied the Ensign. Although it seemed like that the computer and him were just talking, it's not what really happened. While talking, scanners and microphones around the room analyzed his profile, voice, and everything. To make sure that he's not an imposter.

"Voiceprint match. Profile match," the computer confirmed. "Please enter your password."

He typed: TheCovenantSucksBalls

Ensign Hourigan took his duty very seriously, although it doesn't seem like it. He was on the _Archimedes_ with Ensign William Lovell when the Covenant attacked Sigma Octanus IV; it was his shift to look for any Covenant that tried to sneak by, the shift right before Lovell's. He felt that their treatment of him was unfair. If only the Covenant tried to get by twenty minutes earlier, it would've been him that was promoted. It would've been him aboard the _Iroquois_, pulling all sorts of neat tricks and getting all the glory. But no, Lovell was chosen instead.

"Password match. Please keep your eyes open," the computer spoke again, breaking his train of thought. A machine came down to his eye level and scanned his eyeballs. "Processing retinal scan."

After a moment of waiting, the computer spoke again.

"Login complete." Ensign Hourigan's identity record was displayed on the monitor. He looked a lot younger in the picture, and he still had most of his hair. Hourigan ran his hands through what's left of his hair, which wasn't a whole lot.

"Please read General Order 098831A-1 before proceeding," the computer ordered.

Hourigan sighed his frustration. He's read this so many times he memorized it, but the computer would track its eye motions to make sure he read it all. He signed again and opened the file.

United Nations Space Command Emergency Priority Order 098831-A 

**Encryption Code:** Red

**Public Key:** file/first light/

**From: **UNSC/NAVCOM Fleet H. T. Ward

To: ALL UNSC PERSONNEL 

**Subject:** General Order 098831A-1 ("The Cole Protocol")

**Classification:** RESTRICTED (BGX Directive)

The Cole Protocol 

To safeguard the Inner Colonies and Earth, all UNSC vessels or stations must not be captured with intact navigation databases that may lead Covenant forces to human civilian population centers.

If _any_ Covenant forces are detected:

1. Activate selective purge of databases on al shipbased and planetary data networks.

2. Initiate triple-screen check to ensure all data has been erased and all backups neutralized.

3. Execute viral data scavengers. (Download from UNSCTTP/EPWW:COLEPROTOCOL/Virtualscav/fbr.091)

4. If retreating from Covenant forces, all ships must enter Slipstream spaces with randomized vectors NOT directed towards Earth, the Inner Colonies, or any other human population center.

5. In case of imminent capture by Covenant forces, all UNSC ships MUST self-destruct.

Violation of this directive will be considered an act of TREASON, and pursuant to UNSC Military Law Articles JAG 845-P and JAG 7556-L, such violations are punishable by life imprisonment or execution.

/end file/

Press **Enter** if you understand these orders.

Press **Backspace** if you do not understand these orders.

Ensign Hourigan pressed **Enter**. Only once did he foolishly press backspace. The computer just directed him back to the login and had to do the whole thing over. It was rather annoying. That wasn't the worst part though. A few days later, someone came from ONI to explain the Cole Protocol to him. That was just embarrassing.

He then remembered rule four: If retreating from Covenant forces, all ships must enter Slipstream spaces with randomized vectors NOT directed towards Earth, the Inner Colonies, or any other human population center. He wondered if that rule was still in effect, since the Covenant have already found Earth. He wondered if he could get away with a jump straight to Earth, if he had important data to deliver. Chances are, probably not, but it didn't stop him from wondering. The COM board contact alert rang, breaking his train of thought again.

"Aw fuck! Not again!" sighed Hourigan in frustration. He traced the signal back to Alpha probe. The probe had detected two extremely large masses, one slightly farther away than the other. At first glance, it could be mistaken to be a cloud of dust, but upon closer inspection, it was close to the same shape Ensign Lovell discovered near Sigma Octanus IV, except a lot larger. A moment later, Beta, Gamma, and Delta probes came back with the same information.

_Shit. Better tell Earth that there are two Covenant fleets coming their way. Man, we're screwed._

Hourigan tried to get FLEETCOM online, but it took a few minutes.

"What is it, son?" Admiral Hood's face appeared on screen.

"I have something important here, sir!" Hourigan replied.

"It'd better be important. You realize this is a priority channel right?"

"Yes sir."

"Then what are you waiting for? Show me what you got."

Ensign Hourigan showed the Admiral the silhouettes he found. "Covenant ships sir. Their silhouettes are overlapped because they're in slipspace."

Admiral Hood frowned.

"It's almost the exact same thing as Ensign Lovell found aboard the _Archimedes_ when the Covenant attacked Sigma Octanus IV, except this time, the estimated mass of one of the clouds is about four hundred and eighty thousand tons, as opposed to the twenty thousand ton cloud Lovell had found. The other is even heavier, it's close to a million tons sir. That's about an estimated total of 300 ships."

"Thank you son, good work. We'll take it from here."

The screen flickered and Admiral Hood's face disappeared from the viewscreen. Ensign Hourigan sighed, and returned to his duty, hoping that Earth would survive this terrible onslaught.

------------------------------

"Would Spartan-117 please report to the bridge ASAP please," said Admiral Hood over the loudspeakers, broadcasting the message throughout Cairo Station.

The Master Chief had just had the bullet wound in his leg treated and was in the process of putting on his MJOLNIR Mark VI suit when the Admiral's voice came on.

"Damn. This can't be good," sighed the Master Chief.

"Permission to accompany you to the bridge, sir?" asked Linda.

"Permission granted. Follow me Spartans," he said as he walked out of the door of the First Aid Station. He took a slight detour to drop of his Mark VII at Armory 2C, just like the Admiral ordered him to do. Then he made his way down to the bridge.

"Good to see you Master Chief," greeted Admiral Hood.

"Sir!" saluted the Master Chief. The rest of his Spartans followed suit.

"At ease, Spartans," said Hood, although the frown on his face clearly showed that he was worried. The Spartans lowered their hands. "I have some bad news."

"What is it, sir?" asked the Master Chief.

"This report," said Hood while Ensign Hourigan's report came up on one of the smaller display screens. "Shows that there are close to three hundred ships inbound towards Earth."

He waited for the Master Chief or one of his Spartans to comment but when they didn't, he went on. "As you know, our forces were decimated in the last few days of the battle. The Athens and the Malta were completely destroyed, and the Cairo was damaged severely. The Cairo is almost at one hundred percent capacity now, thanks to the expert technicians and the repair crew that have been working around the clock patching it up. Our fleets are almost completely destroyed and our only defences now are the remaining two hundred and ninety eight Super MAC guns."

John knew that without a fleet, Earth would be in trouble. Even with the Super MAC guns, Earth would still fall easily, since all the Covenant would have to do was to send their Seraphs and Phantoms down to Earth and destroy the generators that powered the Super MAC guns. Once inside Earth's atmosphere, the Super MAC guns can't fire because the MAC rounds might miss and if it doesn't miss, it will go through the ships and hit the planet. A hit like that can accidently kill millions of civilians and damage property. They might even destroy the generators.

"Slipspace rupture!" one of the men working at one of the many stations called out. "There are more now! There's a total of ninety six ships that just came out of slipspace!"

"Where are they, Lieutenant?" Admiral Hood demanded.

"Near Saturn sir! They are coming towards us via normal space now!" the excited and nervous Lieutenant nearly screamed.

"Why would they do that? Why didn't they just jump to Mars and advance there?" Admiral Hood wondered out loud.

"Sir! They're trying to hail us! I'm getting a message from D-Band, one of our frequencies, but it says that the source is from one of the ships in that cluster," cried another Lieutenant. Although he didn't sound quite so nervous, it was obvious that another bad surprise might make him shit himself.

"Open it up. Let's see what it says," ordered Hood.

What came up on the screen surprised everyone. Doctor Halsey and three Spartans appeared on screen, and slightly behind him, was the Elite that John had encountered while they were both at the mercy of the Gravemind back on Delta Halo.

"You!" John gasped in surprise.

"Me. Are you surprised to see me, Demon?" replied the Elite with the strange archaic armour.

"Yes. A bit," the Master Chief admitted. "Why do you have some of my Spartans on that ship?"

"It's okay John. These Elites are friends," replied another familiar voice. It was the voice of his mother, the mother of every Spartan.

"Doctor Halsey," said John in greeting.

"Good to see you too, John." Doctor Halsey smiled.

The Admiral Hood interrupted. "How do we know that you're speaking the truth? How do we know that you weren't captured and forced to talk to us like this?"

"With all due respect sir, Spartans don't operate that way," whispered John.

"What do you mean?" inquired Hood.

"I mean that my Spartans will never surrender themselves and let anyone else capture them. They will succeed or die trying."

"I see, and you believe that the Elites are really our friends now?"

"Yes. There's something I didn't tell you," said John. Admiral Hood raised an eyebrow.

"Go on," Hood said.

"While on the Forerunner ship, and while I was on High Charity, the Brutes were fighting the Elites. Apparently the Covenant have kicked the Elites, Grunts, and Hunters out of their society. The Prophet of Truth, one of their leaders, also gave an order for every single Elite, Grunt, and Hunter to be slaughtered," said John.

"I see. It's not like you to forget things like this, Master Chief," said Hood.

"My apologies. It won't happen again," replied John.

"We need you wired tight," muttered Hood. "Anything else you were going to tell us?"

"No, sir," replied John. He was going to tell the Admiral about his alliance with Lemanee and the rest of that squad, but since he was the only one that survived the encounter with the Gravemind, he remain silent.

They turned their attention back towards the viewscreen, where the Arbiter patiently waited.

"Sorry about that," Hood apologized.

"It's okay," replied the Arbiter. "Can we get close to your...MAC guns? A Covenant fleet is already on its way here, and it'd be best if we defend your homeworld together."

"Can I talked to the humans aboard your ship?" asked Hood abruptly.

"Sure," replied the Arbiter, somewhat taken aback. The Arbiter retreated to the background and Johnson, Keyes, Halsey, and the Spartans filled the screen.

"Can they be trusted?" asked Hood.

"Yes they can. Despite the past thirty years of destruction, these Elites can be trusted. They were mislead by the Prophets and we have seen with our own two eyes, Johnson and I, how the Prophets ordered the Brutes to slaughter the Elites."

"Yes, I realize that there is a tension between the Elites and the Brutes, but can they be trusted? I mean, what's to stop them from eliminating us as soon as they get close? We were their sworn enemies remember?"

"Yes, but that's all changed!" sighed Keyes in exasperation. "The Elites want to eliminate the Prophets and the Brutes!"

"It's true. Lemanee and his squad assisted me in finding the Prophet of Truth aboard the Forerunner ship. We found him too late however and ran into a trap. I was the only one who escaped," said John.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" asked Hood.

"Because I thought it was unimportant sir, since none of Lemanee's squad made it off the Forerunner ship."

"Yes...but that piece of information proves that these guys can be trusted to a certain degree. They didn't try to attack you did they?"

"No sir."

"Good." Hood faced the viewscreen again. "Is the Master Chief's story accurate? In terms of the Elites wanting to kill the Prophets and the Brutes?"

"Yes, it does. As I said, we witnessed it when the Brutes had us held hostage," answered Keyes.

"Good. Tell them that they can approach," said Admiral Hood after a moment of consideration.

"Thank you, Admiral," replied Keyes.

"But be warned. Any 'mishaps' will be dealt with appropriately."

"Yes sir."

Admiral Hood grunted. "Alright, come on. We have to be ready for the Covenant when they arrive. Hood out."

------------------------------

A Phantom carrying Doctor Halsey, Commander Keyes, Sergeant Johnson, the Spartans, the Arbiter, and a few Elites, approached the Cairo. The many cannons on the Cairo that handled point defence tracked the Phantom, but didn't fire. One of the docking bay doors opened and the Phantom docked.

Admiral Hood, Spartans-117, -043, -058, -104, and some marines were there waiting for the people inside the Phantom to come out. Half a minute later, the gravity lift on the Phantom hummed to life and down came the passengers of the shuttle.

Kelly was the first person who came down. The Master Chief could tell who she was immediately, even without looking at his HUD. He's known her since the age of six, and recognized the way she walked and the way she held herself. John, Fred, Will, and Linda swiped their fingers across their faceplates, the Spartan's equivalent of a smile, since no one could see their faces. Kelly returned the favour. The next person to come down the lift was Commander Keyes, followed closely by Sergeant Johnson and Doctor Halsey. Keyes and Johnson saluted. The marines, Spartans, and the Admiral returned the salute. Doctor Halsey walked up to Admiral Hood and shook his hand. Then the Arbiter came down, along with the four Elites he brought along, all of which are Zealots or Ultras. They weren't greeted as warmly as the humans were. The Spartans simply nodded and Admiral Hood grunted in acknowledgement while the marines nervously fidgeted with their battle rifles. Then, bringing up the rear were the two remaining Spartans: Charles and Stephen.

After everyone introduced themselves, Admiral Hood spoke. "Follow me please. I think we should go meet the rest of the Spartans."

John's head immediately snapped towards the Admiral. "What Spartans? You mean more of us survived?"

"Um, yes...and no. You'll see what mean. Follow me please."

Admiral Hood led them to a room full of activity, with about twenty-five people moving crates around, while others did various other things. Some cleaned their battle rifles or assault rifles while others practiced hand-to-hand combat. Everyone in that room was in a suit of MJOLNIR Mark VI armour. Then one of them noticed Admiral Hood.

"Admiral on the deck!" he shouted.

Every Spartan stopped what he or she was doing and saluted.

"At ease," said Hood. Everyone dropped their hands. The Admiral Hood turned back to John. "These are the second wave of Spartans. After you graduated, Chief Petty Officer went to train another wave of Spartans on Reach."

_**---Flashback---**_

It was November 2, 2525. The Spartans were all gathered around Admiral Stanforth while he showed everyone what happened to Harvest.

"Because of this UNSC-wide mobilization," Admiral Stanforth was saying. "Your training schedule will be accelerated to its fial phase: Project MJOLNIR."

He stepped back away from the podium and continued. "To that end, I'm afraid I have another unpleasant announcement." He turned towards Chief Mendez. "Chief Petty Officer Mendez will be departing us to train the next group of Spartans..."

_**---End Flashback---**_

The Master Chief felt his heart rate go up. He had thought that the Covenant would invade Earth and there would be very little he could do about it, although he was going to take down as many Covenant members down with him as he could, but now, with so many of his original team back, and the addition of these "new" Spartans, he felt that they had a much bigger chance of winning this war.

------------------------------

**_A/N: The _Cole Protocol_ was copied directly from Halo: The Fall of Reach (page 135-136, except for the "_Press Backspace if you do not understand these orders"_. Just thought you'd like to know...and this way you can't flame me for copying out of the book because this is sort of a disclaimer thingy...besides, where else am I suppose to get it? Hehehe...and if you flame me...I'll find out where you live and eat your entire family. Muahahaha!_**

_**Another A/N: The flashback was also sort of copied, although not really. It's more for the benefit of the reader than the story. It's just telling you where the "new" Spartans came from.**_


	14. Chapter 13: War on Reach

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

_**A/N: The title (War on Reach) may not make sense to you now, but read the entire chapter. You'll get it as you go along.**_

_**Another A/N: A flashback doesn't end until you see the ---End Flashback--- sign, and if I put ---Pause Flashback---, it means that the flashback isn't done, but something has interrupted it (i.e. Covenant attack, Admiral on deck, or just random interruptions). Also, when someone is telling a story, it's a flashback, so this chapter, when Xiran tells John his story, it's in a flashback, but John is also "seeing" the flashback. You know what I mean? Email me if you don't. Sometimes flashbacks are just flashbacks, and not stories...you'll know which is which. Hopefully...**_

_**Yet Another A/N: A lot of the new Spartans are my friends in real life. Some of their personality traits (as Spartans) will inevitably reflect what they are like in real life.**_

------------------------------

**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 13**

**War on Reach**

------------------------------

"Spartans," Admiral Hood began. "I fear that the Covenant is upon us once again. We are, once again, fighting for our lives."

The Admiral paused and surveyed the room. Although he was addressing the Spartans, everyone else in the room listened with rapt attention.

"Our newfound allies, the Elites, the Grunts, and the Hunters, will assist us in the upcoming battle."

There were some murmurs around the room, although none from the Spartans. Hood let this continue for a while. Eventually, the room quieted down again.

"They have also confirmed that the other fleet is our enemy, for they have all their forces here already, clustered around Earth, ready to defend it."

One of the Spartans, Soroush-382, raised his hand.

"Yes?" said Hood.

"Are you sure they are trustworthy sir? I mean, we have been fighting them for thirty years. Doesn't it seem odd that they'd be helping us after all the bloodshed?"

"I've had my doubts," Hood admitted. "But we have first hand information about how they changed allegiances. Spartan-117 himself saw the Elites fight the Brutes, and when he was captured, the Elites helped him escape so they could kill one of the Covenant leaders."

"Yes, sir," said Spartan-382.

"Moving on. We believe that they will try an invasion like last time. It's obvious that there is something on Earth that they want, and we'll do everything we can to stop them. The Spartans and the marines will be groundside defending the MAC generators and striking their landing zones to impede their progress," said Admiral Hood. "Any questions?"

"What will the Elites, Grunts and Hunters be doing, sir?" asked another one of the Spartans, David-411.

"They will be assisting you groundside, I believe." Admiral Hood looked at the Arbiter for confirmation. The Arbiter gave a slight nod and the Admiral continued. "They will also be piloting their ships to destroy as many Covenant ships as they can."

David-411 nodded his understanding. Admiral Hood went on. "Any other questions?"

The room remained silent. "Good. You are to get ready for this upcoming mission, get everything together since the Covenant can arrive any minute now. Is that clear?"

"Sir yes sir!" chorused the Spartans.

"Good. Dismissed," said the Admiral. He walked out of the room and everyone except for the Spartans followed him.

One of the Spartans walked up to John. "Sir!" he saluted.

"At ease," said John. He glanced in his HUD and found that the young Spartan in front of him was Xiran-381.

"We're done packing everything sir! Everyone is equipped with either an assault rifle or battle rifle. Some of us will be taking sniper rifles or rocket launchers out there as well. The grenades and extra ammo are secured and each of us has some on us now, just in case we get separated once we're down there."

"Have you checked your suits for any damage or malfunctions?" asked John.

"Yes sir! Our suits are in perfect working order."

"Then why don't we sit down and talk, while we still have the chance," suggested John.

"Sir?" asked Xiran, confused. He had expected the Master Chief to find something else for him to do, like practicing hand-to-hand combat or target practicing.

They walked to a bench especially made for the Spartans and sat down. If it were a normal bench, it would've collapsed under the weight of the MJOLNIR armour, but this bench was reinforced with multiple layers of folded titanium. It could take a lot of pressure before it snaps.

"What should we talk about sir?" asked Xiran.

They were all ready to go fight the Covenant, and there was a bit of time left before they arrived, so John's curiosity got the better of him. He analyzed the situation over and over again, and made sure that there would be no harm in asking one of the new Spartans on how they escaped Reach. In fact, the extra information might help them in this upcoming mission.

"About how you escaped Reach," replied John after a long pause.

_**---Flashback---**_

It was August 29, 2552. The Spartans were graduating from the Spartan-II program. Unlike the first wave of Spartans-IIs, the second group had their MJOLNIR armour way before their graduation, so thirty-three MJOLNIR clad Spartans stood at attention. Every surviving Spartan in his squad stood at attention, listening to Admiral Whitcomb.

"I'm sorry to say that Chief Petty Officer Mendez will be leave you all to train the third wave of Spartans," Whitcomb was saying. "Chief?"

"Your training is now complete and you will all graduate to the rank of Petty Officer Second Class in the UNSC. One of the first things you will learn is that some of you will make it, some won't. It's part of a soldier's life. You will make and lose friends, but as long as you live, you will move on. With or without your friends."

He paused and surveyed the Spartans. The Spartans stood as still as statues. Then he nodded, satisfied with what he saw.

"You Spartans are the finest soldiers I've ever taught and it has been a great experience training you. Never forget what your duty is. Never forget that you are humankind's best chance of survival against the Covenant. You've studied the first wave of Spartans' operational records, you know what you have to do to live up to that. Remember what I've taught you." He paused for a second the stood at attention and saluted.

"Attention!" cried Xiran. The rest of his squad saluted.

"Good luck," said Mendez.

The Spartans put their arms down as Chief Mendez exited the chamber. Admiral Whitcomb stood up to the podium again. "Spartans. You are to rest for twelve hours. Then we'll be assigning you to various duties we have for you throughout the UNSC."

Admiral Whitcomb searched for something else to say, but failed to find it. He saluted instead.

"Attention!" Xiran cried again, and his squad saluted.

"Dismissed." Whitcomb lowered his arm.

The Spartans lowered their arms and filed out of the chamber.

"This is gonna be fun eh?" said Soroush.

"Yeah. Those Covenant bastards were having trouble with the Spartans before, but after we join, man are they gonna be screwed or what?" replied Xiran.

"Hell yeah. We'll make them wish they had never messed with us."

"Damn straight!" said Danielle-298.

"One sec," said Xiran. Then he addressed all of the Spartans on a COM channel. "Spartans. Tonight, we're going get a good night's sleep, and tomorrow, we're gonna kick some Covenant ass! Is that clear?"

Thirty-two acknowledgment lights winked on, while Soroush and a few others yelled "yeah" or "all right". When they got to the bunks, everyone took off their MJOLNIR armour, put on their nightclothes, and slipped into bed.

"Good night y'all!" said Flavius-262.

"Good night," replied the rest of the Spartans.

------------------------------

The Spartans woke up to a loud siren. "Aw man! What's going on?" asked Xiran groggily.

"I don't know, we should probably check it out," replied Karen-379, already suited up.

"Alright," replied Xiran as he began putting on his MJOLNIR armour. He glanced around the room and found Kayleigh, Joseph, Flavius, and Soroush also putting on their armour. They seemed to be the most awake. Everyone else was still grumbling. After he had finished putting on his MJOLNIR armour, he glanced around again. Nearly everyone was awake now, and quite a few of them had finished putting on their armour.

"Karen. You go down to the armory and grab enough ammo and weapons for all of us. Soroush, and Joseph, go help her. Flavius, Kayleigh, and I will see what's going on."

"Yes, sir," replied Karen. She walked up to Soroush and Joseph. "Follow me. We're going to get enough ammo and guns for everyone." Joseph and Soroush followed her.

"Alright you two. Let's go."

They didn't have to travel far to find out what's going on, because as soon as they exited the door, a marine halted in front of them, almost running into them. The marine was out of breath and looked like he was on the verge of collapse.

"What's going on, soldier?" asked Xiran.

"It's the Covenant sir! We're under attack!" gasped the marine. Xiran looked in his HUD and it identified the marine as Private Alex Harris.

"When did this happen Private?"

"Less than ten minutes ago sir!" replied Private Harris. "Their ships just appeared out of slipspace and started destroying everything in sight!"

"Damn. Anything else you'd like to tell me before I go back to inform my team?" asked Xiran.

"Yes sir. I'm to bring you and your entire squad to HQ, where you'll be briefed."

"Alright. Wait here. I'll get the Spartans ready," ordered Xiran.

"Yes sir."

"Come on guys, let's go back."

"Yes sir," replied Kayleigh and Flavius. Xiran, Kayleigh, and Flavius walked back through the door, and found that all of the Spartans were already in their armour and Karen, Joseph, and Soroush were handing out assault rifles to each and every one of them. Then Joseph spotted Xiran.

"Sir! You should take one of these," said Joseph.

"Thanks man," replied Xiran. Joseph threw an assault rifle at Xiran, and then he threw three clips of ammo at Xiran as well. "Give some to these guys as well." He pointed at Kayleigh and Flavius.

"Yes sir." They were each passed an assault rifle and ammo.

"Were there any grenades available?" inquired Xiran.

"No, sir," replied Joseph.

"Damn. Oh well. We'll have to make do with what we have," replied Xiran. Then he opened a secure channel and messaged all of the Spartans. "Spartans. I have some unpleasant news."

"What is it sir?" asked Lily-331.

"Reach is under attack. I don't know how they found us, but they're here now and we have to face them."

"Damn! This is our first real mission and it's to save Reach? Wow, that sucks!" said David-411.

"What David? You scared?" challenged Alyssa-449.

"No, just a bit worried," David replied defensively.

"Okay guys. No more chitchat. We're going to HQ to be briefed. You can talk while we run," ordered Xiran. Thirty-two acknowledgement lights winked. They filed outside, where Private Harris was waiting for them. "Lead the way, soldier."

Private Alex Harris had to run to keep up with the Spartans, even though the Spartans were walking. He was well trained though, so he didn't complain at all. Once they got there, they were ushered into the briefing room, where a bunch of people was discussing what they should do about the Covenant presence in the Epsilon Eridani system.

"Every ship within range has been recalled to this position, Admiral. There's nothing more we can do!" said a nervous Captain on one of the many viewscreens. The computer revealed him as Captain Steven Ritchie, and his record showed that he had battled the Covenant several times and survived each time to tell the tale.

"Damn! The Covenant would still outgun us if we don't get any more troops! Captain, are you absolutely sure you can't recall any more ships?" asked Admiral Danforth Whitcomb.

"No sir, Admiral Freemont called every ship within range to rally with us at rally point Zulu." The Captain indicated to a space on one of the navigation screens. "That's to say every warship from the Reach system, the Jericho system, and the Tantalus systems have been called here."

"Damn. How are the MAC guns stations? Are they operational?"

"Yes, sir. They are fully operational and are destroying Covenant ships as we speak."

"Good. That'll give them something to think about."

"I'm sorry to say this sir, but the Covenant just keep on coming. For every ship we destroy, two more pops into its place. I'm sure our MAC guns can take care of them."

"Dammit, what's the condition of the fleet currently battling with the Covenant?"

"Not good, sir. We are in danger of being overrun, and...hang on, we're getting a transmission." He paused and looked to another viewscreen. His face slowly changed from a worried expression, to a "this sucks royal ass" expression.

"What is it Captain?" demanded Whitcomb.

"Want the bad news? Or the other bad news?"

"Just spit it out!"

"Well, first of all, the Covenant are launching their dropships directly at our generators. The other bad news is that we've received a distress signal from FLEETCOM. They've discovered a lone ship that has not purged its navigational databases."

"_What_? That's a direct violation of the Cole Protocol!"

"Yes, I know sir."

"Which ship is this? Which fool has done this?"

"It was the _Circumference_, sir."

"Fire on that ship now! We can not risk the navigation data falling into the hands of the Covenant!"

"We can't do that sir. The Spartans aboard the _Pillar of Autumn_ are going to the ship to wipe the system."

"Why don't they just put a MAC round through it? It'd be a lot quicker that way, and it's a lot safer."

"Captain Keyes said the NAV data might survive if we do that, sir."

"Good point. What about the generators? I can send a few companies of marines there to defend it, but that's it. All of our soldiers are otherwise engaged."

"Good plan sir. The Spartans are also going down there to help."

"The Spartans? You mean the Spartans aboard the _Pillar of Autumn_?"

"Yes, sir. Three Spartans went aboard the _Circumference_ to destroy the NAV data while the rest were to go groundside to defend the generators."

"Why didn't they let the second wave of Spartans handle it?"

"I don't think they knew about them sir."

"Damn. Good work Captain Ritchie. Get back to commanding your ship. I'll take care of Reach's ground defences."

"Thank you, sir."

"Oh, Captain. One more order."

"What is it, sir?"

"Give them hell."

"We will, sir," replied Captain Ritchie with a smirk. Then his face disappeared from the viewscreen.'

Admiral Whitcomb turned around to regard the Spartans. Although he didn't show any signs of noticing them since they entered the room, it was obvious that he knew that they were there.

"I suppose you caught all of that," he said lightly, as if he was on a stroll in the woods.

"Yes, sir," replied Xiran.

"Good. Then I want you to know something." He paused. "I don't care what the hell that guy just said, about the MAC guns holding up and shit, but I know for a _fact_ that Reach is history. It doesn't matter that Reach is one of the most fortified planets we have. The Covenant are still going to smoke us."

"What are our orders, sir?"

"Your orders...are to remain on this planet and defend it to the best of your ability, but if things get bad, you are to get the hell out of here," said Whitcomb.

"But sir, we-" started Xiran, but he was cut off.

"Are you questioning orders, Spartan?"

"No, sir."

"Good." He furrowed his eyebrows, deep in though. "Oh, I almost forgot. For the past few months, we've been working on a new bomb called the NOVA. It's basically a cluster of nukes, each one with a lithium triteride casing. When we detonate them, not only do they make a big bang like a nuke's supposed to do, they also force their tritium cases together in one big superheated center. This boosts the explosive power of the nuke by a hundredfold. A few of these would kill a planet. We had planned to use them in space combat to even out the playing field, but it just passed the testing phase and we don't have enough time to send it up to the guys up there." He pointed towards the ceiling.

"Then what are we going to do with the NOVAs sir?"

"I'm glad you asked that, you are going to accompany me and Charlie Company to the NOVAs. Once we get there, we're going to arm them, then you are to destroy as many Covenant troops as you can, but once you're in danger of being overrun, you are to get the hell out of there. Even though you Spartans are all mighty and shit, I don't want you all to die, leaving Earth defenceless." He paused, and then added. "The elder Spartans are already down here, defending the generators, so we can rely on them more than you. No offence, but they do have more combat experience."

"Yes, sir. When do we leave?" asked Xiran. Admiral Whitcomb's last words hurt his pride a little, but he knew it was true. Him and his squad were pretty much green, compared to the elder Spartans, and haven't done any "real" missions yet. This would be their first.

"Right now. I've already told Charlie Company to meet us here." Admiral Whitcomb pointed at his map. "We should get moving."

"Yes, sir," replied Xiran.

Admiral Whitcomb stood up and walked out the door. The Spartans and Private Harris followed him. Whitcomb turned around and finally noticed the Private.

"Thank you son. You are party of Charlie Company, correct?"

"Yes, sir. I'm with Corporal Thompson's squad."

"Good. You can stick with us for now. Once we get there, we can get you back to your Corporal."

"Yes, sir!"

Admiral Whitcomb continued walking. He passed a building then walked towards the garage.

"Sir? I thought our objective was that way," asked Xiran, pointing to the southeast.

"Yes, but you didn't expect us to walk all the way there did you?" said an amused Admiral.

Xiran flushed, even though no one could see it. He _did_ expect them to walk all the way there. They were Spartans and they could make it, but he forgot that Admiral Whitcomb and Private Harris wouldn't be able to keep up with them.

"No, sir," lied Xiran.

"Good. Three to a Warthog everyone. Private Harris, drive please. I'll be in the side, and we'll have a Spartan on the gun," ordered Whitcomb.

"Jen, man the turret on the Admiral's Warthog," said Xiran.

"Yes, sir!" replied Jennifer-217. She ran to the Admiral's Warthog and climbed into the turret.

"The rest of you, you heard the Admiral! Three to a Warthog and follow my lead! Except for Paul and Lisa. You two won't have a passenger," ordered Xiran. "Our destination is here." He uploaded a NAV point to the Spartans' heads up displays. "If I'm taken out, you are to continue no matter what. Protect the Admiral at all costs."

Thirty-two acknowledgement lights blinked. He checked his Spartans' biometers, and saw that everyone was in tiptop shape. Their heart rates were slightly elevated, but that was normal.

"Alex, Karen, you're with me," said Xiran as he got into a Warthog. Alex and Karen double timed it to his Hog. Karen got into the gunner and Alex into the side. "Let's go."

Xiran pressed the gas pedal with his foot and the Warthog shot forwards. Eleven Warthogs followed his and they fanned out around the Admiral, protecting him.

They drove for almost five minutes before they encountered any resistance. They went over a hill and ran into a Ghost patrol.

"Open fire!" growled Xiran over his COM. The Elites piloting Ghosts spotted them and turned to fire at them, but two of them were already downed by a hail of 12.7mm bullets fired from the Warthogs' M41 LAAG turrets. A torrent of assault rifle rounds fired from the Spartans' assault rifles cut down two more Ghosts. The last Ghost tried to get in front of them to block them. It fired at the windshield of Xiran's Warthog and melted it. Before it could do anymore damage, Xiran ran the Ghost over. The Ghost exploded, but the Elite piloting it survived the blast. It roared while its shields crackled, struggling to recharge. A burst from Karen's turret silenced it.

They continued on without a second thought. The encountered another patrol about twenty seconds later. This time it was a Grunt patrol. They weren't as difficult to handle as the Ghosts, so they were cut down in a matter of seconds. A few minutes later they encountered another group of enemies. This time it was more troublesome. There were six Hunters ready for them, their fuel rod cannons glowed an eerie green.

"Damn! Spartans, avoid getting hit at all costs! Those cannons can melt you and your shields with a single direct hit." Xiran barked over hit COM. "Private! Do not engage the Covenant. I repeat, do not engage. Get the Admiral somewhere safe. Paul, Jen, and Lisa, stay behind to protect the Admiral." Three acknowledgements winked while Private Harris shouted "Sir! Yes, sir!" over the noise.

"The rest of you...let's go kick some Covenant ass," concluded Xiran. The rest of the acknowledgement lights blinked. Some Spartans got out of their Warthogs while others stayed in.

"Let's go," muttered Xiran, more to himself than to the rest of his team. He stepped on the gas pedal and his Warthog shot forwards while Karen fired armour piercing rounds from her turret. Three shots hit one of the Hunters and he roared and swung his shield around to protect himself. Karen kept shooting, but the rounds bounced off its shields and did nothing. Then the Hunter's weapon started glowing green.

"Watch out!" cried Alex. Xiran yanked the steering wheel to the left and the plasma bolt missed them by a hair. He heat of the blast melted the taillights.

"Damn! That was close," Xiran remarked. Karen sent another stream of bullets towards the Hunter, which didn't do anything because its shield was still raised. Suddenly, the Hunter started jerking uncontrollably. It charged it gun and fired it once more before it fell it to ground twitching. A Warthog ran over its body.

"Thanks," said Xiran to the Spartans in the Warthog.

"Any time," replied Flavius, who was the driver.

Xiran turned the steering wheel and joined the fray once more. There were only two Hunters left. Three of the Warthogs drove by firing at one of them while five Spartans on foot fired at it. It howled in rage and pain as armour piercing bullets ripped through its body. Its partner stared at the Spartans in hatred. It roared and sent a plasma bolt at one of the Warthogs. The Warthog swerved and dodge the bolt. The Warthog's course was now straight at the Hunter. The gunner, Ashley-357, gripped the chaingun and fired a continuous stream of deadly projectiles at the Hunter. It raised its shield and the rounds bounced harmlessly off it.

The driver, Harry-418, drove the Warthog at top speed at it. Just when the Warthog was about to ram into the Hunter, it jumped aside with surprising agility and smashed its shield into the side of the Warthog. The Spartan in the passenger seat, Ian-392 was ejected from the Hog by the violent lurch. The gunner somehow stayed on and continued to fire at the Hunter. Two rounds caught it in the neck. It roared and fired a plasma bolt at the Warthog. There was a brilliant flash of light as the Hog exploded.

"No!" cried Xiran as he kicked the gas pedal and his Warthog shot towards the Hunter's exposed back. Other Warthogs also congregated at the Hunter's position, each firing its chaingun at it. The Hunter roared as hundreds of rounds came from all sides and ripped through its armour and flesh. It stayed standing for a second, then it collapsed to the ground, unmoving.

Xiran drove to where the fragments of the destroyed Warthog were. The ground around the wreckage was charred. The main bulk of the Warthog was still on fire and there were pieces of charred metal everywhere. Harry and Ashley were nowhere to be seen.

Xiran, Karen, and Alex started digging through the wreckage, searching for some sign of the two fallen Spartans.

"Shit, this doesn't look good," said Alex. He held up part of a faceplate from the helmet of either Ashley or Harry.

"Nope, definitely not," said Karen as she pulled a dismembered arm from the flames. She sounded as if she was on the verge of tears.

They dug some more but found nothing. By then the rest of the Spartans, Admiral Whitcomb, and Private Alex Harris had arrived at the flaming Hog.

"What happened here?" demanded the Admiral.

"A Hunter got them," replied Xiran.

"Them? You mean you lost more than one soldier here?"

"Yes, sir. We lost Spartan-418 and Spartan-357."

"Damn, we can't keep going around losing good soldiers like this. Be more careful next time."

"Yes, sir." Xiran opened his team roster and marked Harry and Ashley as MIA.

"Well, we can't do anything more here. Let's go. We're almost to Charlie Company."

"Yes, sir," replied Xiran as he, Alex, and Karen climbed back into their Warthog. The rest of the party did so as well. Ian, the Spartan who was thrown out of the Warthog moments before it was destroyed, climbed into Paul and Lisa's Hog.

They sped down towards where Charlie Company was supposed to be and sure enough, they found them there after a few minutes.

The man in charge, Major Dudley King, came out to greet them.

"Admiral Whitcomb, sir!" saluted Major King.

"Major." Whitcomb nodded. "Have you set up motion sensors in this area like I asked you to?"

"Yes, sir."

"And you have men on patrol?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. The Spartans and I will be going to find the NOVAs and we're going to arm them."

"But sir! We might not lose this battle! If Reach doesn't fall, then we'll lose anyway because the NOVAs will destroy us!"

"Are you a complete idiot? Open your eyes boy! Despite what you may think and what others say, the fight upstairs isn't going too well. The Covenant are already advancing on the MAC generators as we speak, and no force we have is going to be able to stop it. Once the MAC stations fall, it's going to be all over for us."

"Yes, sir." Major King frowned.

"Your job is to slow the Covenant down long enough for us to reach the NOVAs. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Good. Oh one more thing, Major. Do you have a Corporal Thompson under your command?"

"Yes, sir. I do."

"Good. Private Harris here was very helpful to us and he wishes to get back to his squad to kick some Covenant ass. Would you return him to his squad?"

"I will, sir."

"Good. One more thing, do you have an extra assault rifle around here?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good, fetch it for me."

"Yes, sir!" replied Major King as he turned around and told a lesser officer to get him the assault rifle. After a few minutes, the soldier returned with the rifle and a few spare clips of ammo. Major King snatched the ammo and rifle out of the soldier's hands and brought them to Whitcomb.

"Thank you, son." Then he turned around to address the Spartans behind him. "I think we're done here. Let's get to the NOVAs and arm them."

The Spartans saluted as one. "The gully where the NOVAs are hidden isn't too far away from here, it's only a few about five kilometres more," announced Whitcomb. "Another thing is, we're going on foot. The terrain down there is too unstable for Warthogs. Plus the enemy might be waiting for us there, and the Hogs are too loud and will give away our position." He paused. "Are you ready? Spartans?"

"Yes, sir!" chorused the Spartans.

"Good. Let's go."

"Kyle, take three people with you and scout the front for us. Watch for any Covenant movement or traps," ordered Xiran.

"Yes, sir!" replied Kyle-300. He took Jen, Ian, and David with him. They melted into their surroundings without a sound.

A few minutes later, the four scouts returned. "We have a problem, sir. Grunts and Jackals occupy the entire alley, there seems to be only one of those Elites though. He seems to be in charge of the entire army down there."

"Okay. We have the higher ground for now...let's take them out as quietly as we can," said Xiran. "Let's go see what the terrain around the alley is like."

The Spartans and Admiral Whitcomb crept through the thick grass. They met no resistance on the way and arrived without delay. Xiran surveyed the scene and found four choke points that could be used when they descend into the valley.

"Okay, here's the plan. See the four choke points?" He uploaded NAV points for the choke points into the Spartans' heads up displays. "We'll divide ourselves into five groups. One group will stay behind to protect the Admiral, just in case an attack comes from behind. The rest of us will fire from above at the Covenant. We will thin their numbers a bit before going down there to kill the rest of them. Understood?"

Acknowledgement lights blinked, confirming that the Spartans understood their orders.

"Frank, Stanley, and May, you three will be Silver Team. You three will stay here to protect the Admiral. Do not let _anything_ happen to him. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," replied May.

"Good. May, you're Silver Leader." He paused and looked at his team before continuing. "Karen, Alex, Flavius, Morgan, Kayleigh, Kyle, and myself will be Blue Team." He opened up his team roster and marked them as Blue Team. He also marked himself as Blue Leader and the rest of his team Blue-One, Blue-Two, and so on.

"Danielle, Matt, Joseph, Sue, Jen, Paul, and Eric will be Red Team. Joseph, you'll lead Red Team."

"Yes, sir!" saluted Joseph.

"Lisa, Maria, Joanna, Florence, Dominique, Alyssa, and David." Xiran addressed them. "You guys will be Green Team. Alie, you're in charge." They nodded, to show that they understood.

"And the rest of you, Lily, Amy, Thomas, Soroush, Lindsey, Ian, and Violet. You'll be Gold Team. Soroush, you're Gold Leader."

Seven acknowledgement lights winked.

"Good. There isn't really a battle plan here. Just do what you think is the best thing to do, but make sure you kill as many of those Covenant bastards as you can. Understood?"

Acknowledgement lights blinked once again. "Good. Now let's go kick some ass."

Blue, Red, Green, and Gold teams each took a choke point. "Start firing on my mark," said Xiran. He waited three seconds, then yelled. "Mark!"

Twenty-eight assault rifles fired from the top of the canyon. Grunts and Jackals alike fell down dead or wounded. The Covenant troops looked around, confused. Grunts panicked like they always do and rampaged around the gully, crushing anyone or anything that stood in their way. Jackals tried to control them, but the majority of them got shot or trampled by scared Grunts. The Elite Commander then roared, and most of the Grunts stopped in their tracks. Some of these stubby aliens kept thrashing around and screaming.

The Elite Commander yelled something in an alien tongue, then pointed at the attackers atop the edge of the gully. Jackals and Grunts looked up at them and fired their plasma pistols and needlers at the Spartans.

"Fall back!" cried Xiran. Every Spartan fell back and avoided the plasma. The needles were a bit harder to avoid. A few Spartans were hit by the explosive pink needles, but they didn't do much damage to their shields. Except for one unlucky soul.

------------------------------

"Fall back!" Ian-392 heard Xiran call out over the COM channel. He hesitated, then decided to fire off the remaining rounds in his assault rifle, which killed four Grunts. Satisfied, Ian turned around to retreat to where his teammates were, safe from the plasma. He ran as fast as he could back towards his team. Then he felt something hit his shields, followed by the rapid thumps of something else. Each impact drained his shields by a hair, leaving his shields at half full.

_Good, it wasn't anything serious._

He waited for his shields to recharge when a pink light enveloped him. His shields drained in a sudden burst.

"What the fuck?" he wondered out loud.

A second explosion followed the first one, as his body was swallowed by the pink light once more. This time, without his shields to protect him, his MJOLNIR armour took the brunt of the blow. Bit of the armour flew off in many different directions.

_No! I won't die like this!_

That was his final thought before his body was torn apart by a third detonation.

------------------------------

"Ian! No!" cried Xiran as explosive needles peppered his back, each impact draining his shields a tiny bit. Then he exploded in a flash of pink. This time, most of Spartans turned to look.

"No!" Xiran heard Gold Leader, Soroush-382, yell.

Another series of needles hit Ian's shieldless armour as he exploded again. One of the shards found the fusion pack on his back and penetrated the weakened covering around it. The single shard exploded and Ian's body disappeared amidst the blinding white nuclear light. No one was closer than ten meters to Ian when he died, which was fortunate.

No one spoke for ten seconds after Ian died. They were all too stunned to speak. Then Xiran snapped out of his trance.

"Alright boys and girls! Get back to work!" he yelled, putting his grief aside. He'll deal with it later.

He ejected his near empty magazine and slapped in a new one into his assault rifle. The rest of the Spartans did the same. Meanwhile, the plasma and needler fire seemed to lessen, although an earthquake seemed to have started.

"Spartans! Take up positions close to your chokepoints. When they come up, greet them with a welcoming gift."

The Spartans acknowledged the order. Xiran ordered Karen and Flavius to take up the right side of the slope while Morgan, Alex, and himself took the left. Kyle and Kayleigh took the centre. This way if too many of them made it up, they could catch them in a crossfire. Otherwise, Kyle and Kayleigh could take care of themselves.

The first Grunt popped its head up from the steep incline and Kyle pulled the trigger of his assault rifle. The Grunt's head exploded and its body fell down. Several squeals of pain could be heard as its dead body rolled on top of its comrades, taking them down with it.

A few seconds later, four more Grunts made it up. Kyle and Kayleigh fired two rounds each. Each shot hit home as the rounds penetrated the Grunts' breathing masks. The Grunts gagged and choked. After a few seconds, their bodies went limp. Xiran crawled to the bodies and threw them off the edge. A few muffled thumps and a high pitched squeak could be heard. Xiran smiled.

More Grunts arrived at the top where the seven Spartans waited for them and each was dispatched easily. The problem was that the Grunts were coming up at increasingly more numbers each time. Soon, the Spartans were forced to give up ground. They did it grudgingly, and inch by inch. Red, Green, and Gold teams were having similar problems.

"I have a plan. Guys, cover me!" said Xiran as he dashed towards the Grunts. The ill disciplined Grunts shrieked in terror as the seven foot tall soldier ran at them at full speed. A few plasma bolts were shot at him, but his shields protected him. Most of the Grunts scattered and ran around in circles. The rest of Blue Team, seeing the confusion, fired their rifles. Armour piercing rounds tore through the Grunts' fragile bodies as they screamed in pain

Xiran was a bit dumbfounded. He hadn't expected the Grunts to lose their nerve so quickly. His original plan was to grab a plasma grenade from one of the fallen Grunts and stick it to the middle of the group, but this works too. He picked up a few plasma grenades and stored them for future use. He then scooped up as many as he could and headed back to his group do distribute them.

"That move was a stroke of genius, sir!" Morgan-276 said.

"You think so? Well, I would've called it suicidal, but I guess genius works too," said Xiran wryly.

Morgan chuckled. The assault on their part of the gully halted temporarily as scared Grunts rampaged downhill, crushing their own ranks. The other Spartans were starting to gain ground now, while the Grunts were distracted by the sounds of their comrades screaming and yelling in the gully. After a few more minutes of chaos, the Spartans finally got back to their original positions before the Grunts attacked.

Xiran contacted Red, Green, and Gold team leaders. "Team leaders, gather as many plasma pistols and grenades as you can. We don't know how many Grunts and Jackals are down there, and we might need the extra weapons, in case we run out of ammo."

He checked his own supply of ammo. Only two clips left, plus the half spent magazine in his rifle. He policed two plasma pistols for future use. His team did the same. The ground started to rumble again, signalling that the Covenant troops are coming back for round two. At the first motion, Xiran fired a three round burst at its source. The bullets pinged and bounced off a reflective surface and hit Karen.

"Sorry," muttered Xiran over his COM.

Karen gave a subtle nod and threw a plasma grenade. The sticky properties of the grenade didn't work against the reflective surfaces of the Jackal shields so it bounced off of it. However, the grenade hit the shield at such an angle that it bounced behind the shield bearing Jackals. The Jackals didn't notice this and a few seconds later they were vaporized.

"Nice shot," said Kyle.

"Thanks," replied Karen.

Three more Jackals appeared, and the Spartans shot at exposed areas where the shields weren't covering. Two Jackals lost their feet and stumbled, which exposed their backs. A few more rounds finished them quickly.

The last Jackal overcharged his plasma pistol and fired at Xiran. His shields popped and a beeping noise filled his helmet. He pulled the trigger and two rounds came out, then it clicked, indicating that there were no more bullets left in the rifle. The two rounds missed the Jackal and hit the ground. Xiran lunged towards the Jackal and bashed its shield with the butt of his rifle. Sparks flew as the impact knocked the shield aside. Xiran lashed out with his rifle again, this time hitting the creature's head. Its neck broke as its head was bent back at an unnatural angle. Xiran policed its arm shield and threw the body back into the gully. He also took another two plasma pistols.

He discarded his assault rifle and tossed his last clip of ammo to Alex. "Here, you can make better us of this than I can."

"Thanks," said Alex.

No more Covenant troops came up. Xiran told his team to hold their positions while he went to the edge to find out what's going on. The gully was now very empty compared to when they first arrived. Only a handful of Grunts and Jackals remained. The Elite was nowhere in sight.

"Let's go down there and check this out," he told Blue, Red, Green, and Gold teams. Then he opened a private COM channel to Silver Leader. "May, any sign of the Covenant back there?"

"No, sir."

"Good. Tell your team and Admiral Whitcomb to join us up here. We're almost done here."

Xiran led his squad down the steep wall of the canyon while Red, Green, and Gold leaders did the same. The Grunts noticed the Spartans coming down at them and panicked, trampling anything that got in their way, whether it was a rock, a Jackal trying to calm them down, or each other. The Spartans fired their plasma pistols and assault rifles and slaughtered them all.

Once they arrived at the bottom of the canyon, they noticed that there was a small cave in one of the walls, with Covenant footprints leading to its interior. It was a small cave; no more than two meters tall and wide.

"Morgan and Alex. Follow me. The rest of you stay here and guard the entrance," Xiran ordered. Acknowledgement lights blinked, while Morgan and Alex walked towards him, assault rifles ready.

"Let's go," said Xiran as he turned on his flashlight. Alex and Morgan did the same. He overcharged two plasma pistols, one in each hand, for more light, and this way he was ready for an ambush.

The three Spartans walked through the cave slowly, taking in their surroundings. At the very back of the cave, there was a cluster of warheads. There was also a very angry Elite beside it. It was wearing gold armour, showing that it slaughtered many humans in its lifetime. It also held an energy sword.

It roared and shook its head, then it charged straight at Xiran. He fired off his plasma pistols, one after another, while Morgan and Alex fired their assault rifles, being careful not the hit the NOVAs. The Elite's shields flared, creating bright flashes inside the dark cave, as the assault rifle rounds hit its shields. The slower, overcharged plasma bolts made their way towards the golden Elite. At the very last second, The Elite sidestepped, causing both plasma bolts to hit the wall, turning it into glass.

It growled in anger and increased its speed. Alex and Morgan fell back, still firing their assault rifles, but Xiran stood his ground.

"What the hell are you doing? Get back!" cried Morgan.

"Trust me. I know what I'm doing," replied Xiran.

"You'd better know what you're doing," said Morgan. She was clearly worried.

"I do. Just distract the bastard and weaken his shields every once in a while," whispered Xiran. He closed the COM channel.

_I hope I know what I'm doing_.

He overcharged one of his plasma pistols, and patiently waited for the Elite to come towards him.

When the Elite was two meters in front of him, it kicked off the ground and lunged at him. Xiran ducked just in time as the Elite's sword passed over his head. He let go of the trigger on his plasma pistol. The overcharged bolt hit the Elite in the chest, draining it in one blow. The Elite recoiled from the plasma, blinked twice, and swung its deadly plasma sword at Xiran again. Two bursts of assault rifle rounds caught it in the side, piercing its leg and chest armour. It jerked involuntarily, causing the sword to hit the wall. The place where the sword made contact with the wall was instantly turned to glass.

"Holy shit that was close," muttered Xiran as he sprung from his position. He grabbed the Elite's sword arm with one hand and punched it in the face with his other. The Elite's grip loosened on its sword, but didn't drop it. Xiran punched it again, though this time the Elite blocked it with its other arm. It lashed out its foot and caught Xiran in the side. His shields dropped by a quarter, but the impact caused him to lose his grip on the Elite's sword arm. The Elite, sensing freedom, immediately brought down its sword on the Spartan.

Xiran rolled to one side, causing the blow to miss. Another burst of assault rifle caught the Elite in the chest, halting the recharging phase of its shields. Xiran picked up his fallen plasma pistol and fired it at its face. The last of its shields fell away as Xiran fired the plasma pistol again. The bolt caught the alien in the eye. The Elite howled in pain and dropped his sword. Xiran took this chance to put a few more plasma bolts into the alien Commander. The Elite fell to its knees and fell limp against the cave wall, dead.

"Holy shit," panted Xiran. "That was fucking close."

Alex and Morgan walked in. "That was awesome!" cried Alex.

"Yeah, thanks," replied Xiran. "I should probably contact Admiral Whitcomb eh?"

"Yeah probably," said Morgan.

Xiran nodded. Then he opened a COM channel to Whitcomb's radio. "Sir."

"What is it, Squad Leader?"

"We've secured the NOVAs."

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_**A/N: For those of you who don't know, every time a Spartan dies, he or she is marked MIA (missing in action) instead of KIA (killed in action) because the Spartans were supposed to be invincible. Marking a Spartan as KIA would deal a huge blow to the moral of the humans. I'm not really good at explaining this...go read Halo: The Fall of Reach if you want to get it. Thanks!**_

_**Another A/N: Wow! That was the longest chapter I've written so far! Hope you enjoyed it! Read and review please!**_


	15. Chapter 14: Cleaning Up

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

_**A/N: Sorry this one took so long guys, but I was very busy with schoolwork and stuff. Thanks for your patience and enjoy Chapter 14!**_

_**Another A/N: Alyssa-449 is also referred to as Alie-449 or Alie...just thought you'd like to know.**_

_**Yet Another A/N: The old dropships in Halo: Combat Evolved will be named Apparitions, which continues the tradition Bungie has used to name the Covenant vehicles after spirits (i.e. Phantoms, Ghosts, Spectres, and Wraiths) and inhuman creatures (i.e. Banshees).**_

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**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 14**

**Cleaning Up**

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"We've secured the NOVAs." Admiral Whitcomb heard on his radio.

"Are you sure?" Whitcomb asked.

"Well, unless you've got something else hidden in these valleys that looks like a cluster of nukes, yes. I'm sure," replied Xiran.

"All right. I'm coming down there, Whitcomb out." He snapped off the channel. Then he beckoned to the three Spartans guarding him.

"Come on, we're going down there."

Two of the Spartans turned to follow Whitcomb, but the third stayed rooted in his place.

"Are you coming, son?"

"No, sir. I think I should stay here and look out for any Covenant movement," replied Frank. "If we're caught clustered down there, they we're basically screwed...like those Grunts and Jackals Red, Blue, Green, and Gold teams slaughtered. The only difference is that we don't have the advantage in numbers, and we can't afford to throw our lives away without a second thought. We already have three Spartans down, let's not lose any more than we have to."

"Well spoken, son," said the Admiral. "Keep us posted for any sign of the Covenant, and if you think you can take them, send them to hell, but don't risk your neck if you can't take them without getting killed. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!" saluted Frank.

Whitcomb saluted back. "Good luck." He turned and started the steep climb down to the cave.

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Xiran, Morgan, and Alex emerged from the cave and saw the Admiral descending upon them. He had May and Stan with him, but Frank was nowhere to be seen. Xiran check his biometer, which showed that Frank was still in perfect health. He accessed his suit's tracking system and found Frank still at the top of the canyon.

_Good, he's looking out for us; we'll be forewarned if the Covenant tries to attack us._

Whitcomb reached the bottom of the canyon and made a beeline straight towards Morgan, Alex, and Xiran.

"Sir!" the three Spartans saluted in unison.

"At ease, Spartans," said Whitcomb. The Spartans lowered their arms. "The NOVAs are in there?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then let's go in. Squad Leader, take two other Spartans and follow me. The rest of you, keep guarding this entrance."

Every Spartans saluted. Xiran chose Alex and Morgan again, and they accompanied Whitcomb to the NOVAs. They walked in silence, and when the cave got too dark, Whitcomb asked the three Spartans to turn on their flashlights. They did so. They soon arrived at the back of the cave, where the NOVAs were stashed.

"Alright. Do you know what I'm gonna do with this, son?" Whitcomb asked.

"Yes, sir. You are going to arm them so that the Covenant can't take Reach."

"That's right. The NOVAs will stay here, in a small and derelict part of Reach that the Covenant won't look through." Whitcomb entered the arming code for the nukes. "They are clearly looking for something down here because they haven't glassed us yet. They're sending troops down. I'll try to find a ride out of here after a few days, and I hope to god the Covenant find the nukes and take it back to their homeworld."

"Are you sure you'll be all right?" asked Xiran.

"I'll be fine here. You guys go out there and kill as many of those Covenant bastards as you can, but make sure you guys survive to tell the tale. That's an order, got it?"

"Yes, sir. What will be our extraction point?"

"You won't have one. You'll have to improvise. Sneak into a Covenant ship; find a small UNSC craft with slipspace capabilities; anything, but you must get one this clear. You have to stay alive. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir." Xiran was getting a bit tired of the Admiral telling him to stay alive over and over, but he hid his annoyance from his voice.

"Good, now get out of here." Admiral Whitcomb ordered.

"What about you, sir?"

"I'll call Charlie Company to pull me outta here, then we'll get aboard a Prowler and get off of Reach."

"Yes, sir," said Xiran. He looked at Morgan, then at Alex. "Spartans, let's get outta this place."

Two acknowledgement lights winked as Morgan and Alex acknowledged the order. They left Admiral Whitcomb inside the cave alone with two plasma pistols, the assault rifle Charlie Company gave to him, and an extra flashlight Morgan had with her. As they were exiting the cave, Xiran could hear Whitcomb turning on his radio to call Charlie Company. Once outside, he opened up a secure COM channel to all of the Spartans.

"Spartans. Let's go," he said.

"What about Admiral Whitcomb, sir?" asked Joseph-177.

"He's calling Charlie Company to pick him up."

"What about us? Sir? What are our orders?"

"We're gonna get out there and make those Covenant bastards wish that they were never born."

Spartans all around nodded in agreement.

"Frank, you can come down here now. We're gonna take another route out of this ditch," Xiran addressed Frank-442.

"Yes, sir. I'm coming dow-." There was a pause. "Oh shit..."

"What is it?" asked Xiran, even though he already knew the answer.

"It's the Covenant, sir. Hundreds of those Grunts and Jackals are making their way through the grasslands right now. They got a few of them Elite bastards with them too."

"Fuck..." sighed Xiran. Then he opened a channel to Admiral Whitcomb. "Sir, we've got trouble. The Covenant are coming this way."

"Just hold them off for as long as you can. I've called Charlie Company to give me evac," ordered Admiral Whitcomb almost lazily.

"Yes, sir," said Xiran. He snapped off the COM channel to the Admiral and returned to the one to his teammates. "Okay, guys. Today's our lucky day. The Covenant have decided to come to us, so we don't have to walk all the way to them to kill them. We can't, however, fight it out here, when they have the height advantage. Frank, try to draw them off, but don't expose yourself. Once we're in position, I'll send you a NAV point and you are to rendezvous with us."

Frank acknowledged the order and assault rifle fire could be heard, mixed with the Grunts squealing.

"Spartans! Go, go, go!" barked Xiran.

It was a might've been a steep climb for a normal human, but the cliff face was nothing to the Spartans. Even with the extra weight and bulk of their MJOLNIR armour, they still made it up in less than five minutes.

"Come on, we have to get to the tall grass," Xiran whispered. "If we're caught in the open like this, we'll be screwed." The edge of the cliff provided no cover for them at all.

They sprinted towards the grasslands, where Frank was busily sneaking around, making kills at random, mostly Grunts. A few unlucky Jackals got killed too.

"Spartans, same teams as before, except May will join my team, Frank will join Gold Team, and Stanley will join Red Team. Gold Team, try to circle around the Covenant. Go left. Same with Red Team, except you guys go right. You have permission to engage in guerrilla actions and neutralize any threats along the way, as long as you don't get carried away with it," ordered Xiran. The two teams of Spartans acknowledged the order and melted into the grass like ghosts.

"Green Team, stay here. Wait for Red and Gold Teams to get into position, then coordinate your attacks from three sides. Okay?"

"Sir, yes sir!" cried Green Leader, Alie-449. Her, and the rest of her team slipped through the tall grass and disappeared as well, waiting for Red and Gold Teams to get ready.

"Frank, rendezvous with Gold Team," said Xiran as he opened a COM channel to him. He placed a moving NAV marker on Gold Leader, Soroush-382.

"Yes, si-whoa shit!" cried Frank, his heart rate scale on his biometer going way up. A burst of assault rifle fire could be heard over the COM, since Frank didn't have a chance to close it. A few seconds later, there was another burst of assault rifle fire, mingled with plasma fire, a high pitched squeal, a gurgle, and finally a thump.

"Yes, sir. I'll rendezvous with them as soon as I can."

Xiran sent him an acknowledgement signal, to show that he got the message. Then he snapped off the COM channel to Frank, and addressed Blue Team.

"Guys, we're gonna go out there and kill as many of them Covenant assholes as we can. Any questions?"

"Nope," said Morgan, smashing one gauntleted fist into her other. "I'm ready."

Karen and Flavius checked their assault rifles. "Yup, we're good," said Flavius.

Kyle, Kayleigh, May, and Alex merely nodded. Xiran looked at his team, and was pleased with what he saw. They were ready.

"All right. Kyle, you take point. May, you watch our six," Kyle and May nodded. The former sprinted up ahead while the latter slowed down to take the back. "The rest of you, stay sharp and look for any sign of the Covenant." Seven acknowledgement lights winked.

They crept through the grass as if they were ghosts, making no noise. Suddenly, Xiran saw Kyle signal them to stop. He signalled for the rest of the team to stop. They froze and scanned the area for any hidden Covenant troops. Xiran crouch-walked to where Kyle was.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Covenant troops, sir. It looks like just a patrol, only twelve Grunts, but that's no biggie. Their leader is a bit more of a problem though. It's a Blue Elite. A minor, judging from what we've seen in the videos Déjà showed us in class. What do you think we should do?"

Xiran grinned, although no one saw it. "Well, you know me. If we can do it silently, then we kill them. We have these nice and relatively silent plasma weapons, and the silencers on our assault rifles. What do you say?"

"I'd say kill them."

"Exactly. Keep an eye on them while I give the rest of the team their orders." Kyle nodded and Xiran went back to the rest of Blue Team. In less than a minute, a plan was formulated. Xiran, Kayleigh, and Morgan would go at them from the left while Karen, Flavius, and May came from the right. Alex and Kyle would take them head on. It was a three way flanking formation. They slithered through the tall grass, making no noise, and soon, they were ready.

"Everyone ready?" asked Xiran over the COM. It was risky talking on the COM, because the enemy could intercept the signal, but it was necessary.

Blue Team sent their acknowledgement signals. "Good. Alex, May and I will concentrate on the Elite. The rest of you should kill the Grunts. Kyle, tell us when they're in sight."

Kyle grunted over the COM. A few seconds later, he whispered. "They're here."

Xiran, Kayleigh, and Morgan sprung from their concealed positions. Kayleigh and Morgan fired their silenced assault rifles while Xiran charged both of his plasma pistols. Bewildered Grunts gasped and screamed and were cut down seconds later. A few Grunts fired off a few shots but not many hit. Xiran tore his gaze from the Grunts and looked at the Elite. He shot both overcharged plasma bolts at it. The Elite tore its gaze from his underlings and turned towards Xiran. It ducked under the first one but the second found its mark. The bolt impacted upon its energy shield and it collapsed. The Elite roared and let loose a flurry of plasma bolts from its plasma rifle. Xiran jumped aside, but not before he was hit by some of the bolts. He landed on the ground and rolled away, his shields weak.

The Elite gives an almighty roar and shot in the direction in which Xiran disappeared. The plasma would've hit Xiran if the grass weren't in the way. Most of the plasma hit the thick grass and melted it, instead of Xiran. The Elite roared in frustration, but then it grinned. Its shields had started to recharge. Xiran backed up slowly, not wanting to make any noise, while he waited for his shields to recharge. After what seemed to be an eternity, the shield bar on his HUD started filling up again. He sighed with relief.

The Elite made its way to where Xiran stood crouched, plasma rifle ready. Before he's gone three meters, assault rifle rounds impacted upon its shields from two sides, draining it by a bit. The Elite roared angrily and fired at the sources of the rounds, but hit nothing but grass.

The Elite muttered something in its own tongue, shook its head, and continued walking towards Xiran's hiding place, though more cautiously this time. Another few projectiles hit its shields. It roared in frustration, wildly swinging its plasma rifle around, looking for a target. It fired off a few random shots, but didn't hit anything. The Elite let its guard down slightly while trying to find its mysterious attacks, so Xiran took this chance to attack.

He charged his plasma pistols and jumped straight into the air. By the time he was at the highest point, three metres, the plasma pistols were humming loudly, telling him that he must let go of the trigger soon, before all the pent up plasma melted the pistol itself. The Elite turned around in surprise and gasped. Xiran let go of the pistols' triggers and two bright green bolts shot at the Elite, automatically attracted to its shields like a magnet to your fridge. The plasma projectiles hit the Elite one after another. The first on knocked out its shields and the second splashed across its chest, melting its chest armour. It fired its plasma rifle at Xiran, but he was already back in the grass by then. It howled its frustration and fired blue-white plasma at the direction Xiran was in. It succeeded into doing nothing but vaporize a lot of grass. Then a three bullets caught it in the leg. Two bounced off of its armour, but the third penetrated its thigh. It doubled over in pain as another burst caught it in the neck. Blood gushed from the wound and fountains of it landed on the ground. The Elite stared at the blood in disbelief, then a bullet caught it in the eye and went into its brain, killing it instantly.

He opened a COM channel to Alex and May. "Thanks guys." Then he opened the COM to the rest of Blue Team. "Good works guys, let's meet by where most of the Grunts were killed." Blue Team acknowledged the orders.

Xiran crawled out of his hiding place and crouch-walked to where the Elite was slain. He shot it a few more times with his plasma pistols to make sure it was dead. It didn't even twitch, even though it now has a large burn mark on its face. Satisfied, he dropped his spent pistols and picked up the dead Elite's plasma rifle. The charge read seventy-one percent. Xiran tossed the rifle up into the air and caught it, smiled, then left to join the rest of his team, who were all clustered around the Grunts.

"Grab whatever you want from these Grunts. Grenades, guns, whatever. We'll be moving on in twenty seconds," said Xiran.

Everyone took something from the dead aliens. Xiran holstered his plasma rifle onto his suit, and picked up two needlers. He ripped open a Grunt's ammo and grenade compartment on its suit and found two ammo pods for the needlers, each consisting of thirty rounds. Satisfied, he dropped the dead Grunt and put the needler ammo in his own ammo compartment on his MJOLNIR Mark V suit.

"Same formation. Move out," barked Xiran.

Blue Team spread themselves out and crept through the grass once more, towards the direction. Then an alarm sounded in Xiran's helmet, he quickly scanned the Spartans' biometers to make sure everything was alright. It wasn't. Frank's biosigns flashed red on Xiran's heads up display. Xiran sent a message to Frank.

"Frank! Is everything all right?" he said over the COM. There was a burst of static. Then Frank's voice came on, slurred, and static was heard throughout the entire message.

"There's too-" Static. "-wounded, can't-" Static. "-much long-" Static. "-never rende-" Static. "-old team-" Static. " -objec-" Static. "-failed-" Static. "-sorry..." Then Frank's biosigns faded and his profile turned black.

"Frank! Report! This is an order!" cried Xiran, but there was no answer. Static was all that he could hear. "Dammit." He opened his team's roster and marked Frank down as MIA.

"_That's four lost Spartans in one day, and that's not good._"

"Sir," said Kyle, breaking his train of thought. "We can see the main body of the assault force and it's heading towards the alley the NOVAs are. There are a lot of wounded in the enemy army and are moving pretty slowly, so I'm assuming Charlie Company put up a good fight, but were eventually overcome. Either that or the rest of the Spartans did all the damage and they didn't engage Charlie Company at all."

"Sir, Red Team is ready and in position for assault. What are our orders, sir?" said Red Leader over the COM.

"Gold Team is in position, sir. Awaiting further orders," reported Gold Leader immediately after Red Leader did. A second later, Green Leader reported in.

"Sir," she said. "We are ready and in position for an attack."

"It's okay. As long as we can kill these guys, then we're good. On my mark, we all throw grenades at them, right after they explode, we'll move in during confusion and kill anything that isn't human. We'll hit them from four sides and we'll eliminate them all. Be careful and don't hit each other. Is that clear?"

Red, Green, Gold, and his own team acknowledged the orders. He waited until the Covenant strike force came into view.

"Mark!" he barked over the COM. Twenty-nine grenades sailed through the air and exploded simultaneously. The plasma and shrapenel from the grenades took out about a hundred of the Grunts and Jackals. The Elites were luckier, and none of them died, although there were many crackling energy shields. The Spartans then rushed out of the tall grass and descended upon the unsuspecting and unfortunate Covenant troops. Assault rifle rounds, plasma bolts, and needler shards flew from the Spartans' weapons and felled row after row of Covenant. By the time the Covenant had realized what was happening, almost sixty percent of their strike force was dead or wounded. There were still a substantial number of survivors though, since the original strike team was about three hundred strong.

The Elites were the quickest to recover from the four way ambush, and barked orders to their underlings, the remaining Jackals and Grunts. They fired their various weapons at the Spartans, but the fire lacked coordination, and did little to the Spartan hoard. The Elites were more skilled and remained more calm in a situation like this, so they managed to bring a few of the Spartans' shields down, at which point the Spartan in question would fall back and let one of his or her comrades take his or her place while his or her shields recharged.

A group of blue Elites panicked when they saw most of the strike force being decimated and went on a grenade rampage. Sticky blue explosives flew in every direction, forcing the Spartans to scatter. This also gave the Elites, who were being slowly forced closer and closer together, a chance to gain ground and attack the Spartans while they were still recovering. Soon, the battle consisted of mostly one on one battles. Blue Team never separated, so a group of Elites charged at them, roaring their battle cries.

The good news was that there were eight Spartans in his squad, and only seven Elites. The bad news was that all of the Elites were of high ranking. Six black clad SpecOps Elites and a SpecOps Commander in white. Xiran was confident that they could take then all.

"Spartans. Pick an Elite, and take them out!" ordered Xiran.

The Spartans scattered, causing the Elites to spread out as well. Three of SpecOps Elites decided to gang up on Flavius, so Kayleigh, and Kyle rushed to his side. Then, as if on cue, the Spartans and Elites fired their weapons simultaneously. Plasma and bullets flew in every direction and shields flared. Xiran looked at his own opponent, the SpecOps Commander, took a deep breath, and waited for the Elite to make the first move. The Elite was doing the same. The two of them stood there in combat stances, ready to pounce at any minute, and stared at each other, taking in every movement the other made.

Without warning, the Elite fired his plasma rifle at Xiran. Xiran jumped aside, dodging the plasma fire. He returned the favour with a flurry of needler shards from his two needlers. The Elite ducked and rolled away right before the needler rounds were about to hit. The homing system properties of the shards tried to follow the Elite, but the angle was too great. They hit the ground and detonated in a series of small, harmless explosions. Xiran emptied his needlers and reloaded, but the Elite dodged them as well in the same fashion. One of the needles hit the Elite's shields and it flashed bright silver. Then it smiled, despite the fact that a shard just hit it.

"_Oh yeah? I give you something to smile about!_"

Xiran jumped up and unloaded upon the Elite with his twin needlers until it clicked dry. The Elite just stood his ground until the last second. Then it sidestepped and a hail of needles sailed pass it and hit the ground. It looked up as the remainder of the needler rounds hit its shields. Seven of the shots hit home, but it was not enough to drain the Elite's shields.

"_Dammit!_"

The Elite walked at Xiran and its smile grew even wider. Xiran pulled the trigger on his needler again, only to find it depleted in ammunition.

"_Uh oh. This can't be good._"

He quickly discarded them and took out his plasma rifle. The Elite kept walking towards Xiran calmly, as if on a stroll in the woods, and when it was about two meters away from him, it dropped its plasma rifle and reached for something on its waist. Then with a flash of light and a loud fizzing sound. A blade of pure plasma shot out of the handle. Then it lunged.

Xiran sidestepped to the left as the sword passed through the air where his body was half a second ago, then he brought his elbow down on the Elite's sword arm. The attack was stopped at about half a centimetre away from the Elite's arm, when Xiran encountered its shields.

"_Damn!_"

The Elite swung his sword again at Xiran. He jumped backwards and did a backflip before landing again.

A bolt of plasma shot passed his ear and he instinctively turned to look. With the Spartan distracted, the Elite decided that it would be the perfect time to strike. It made a quick dash at the Spartan. Xiran saw a blue blur on his peripheral vision and ducked instinctively. A burning hot plasma sword passed through the air where his neck would've been had he not have ducked.

"_Focus..._"

His attention returned to the SpecOps Commander, who was slightly frustrated since it hadn't made its kill yet. Xiran fired a volley of plasma fire at it, and it didn't do any more damage than the needlers did; the Elite's shields still held firm. The Elite feinted to one side and Xiran counterattacked. The Elite changed direction in midswing and the plasma blade hit Xiran in the arm. His shields vanished instantly when the sword hit, but it didn't stop the swing. Luckily, the shields slowed the attack down by a lot, so the Elite didn't have much momentum to work with when he tried to saw through Xiran's MJOLNIR suit.

The internal temperatures of the suit skyrocketed as the blade melted the top layer of his armour. The alien snarled at Xiran and stabbed at the tough crystalline layers of the MJOLNIR armour in the already weakened spot. Hydrostatic gel and blood oozed out of the cut and the Elite roared in triumph.

Just when the Elite was feeling triumphant and swung again, Xiran rolled away, cradling his wounded arm. He looked at the wound and shrugged it off; he's had worse. The Elite sprinted as fast as he could at the Spartan and lunged. Xiran fell flat on his back to avoid the attack. Then he lashed out with his legs and caught the Elite right in the crotch. The Elite, whose momentum was too great, flipped over Xiran's legs and flew right over him.

Xiran got up and fired at the Elite, but the shields were still up, though it was crackling, showing that it was weak. The Elite snarled it hatred at Xiran, got back up to its feet, and came at him again.

"_Christ, how much stamina does this guy have? I can't do this forever and I'm already feeling a bit faint from the blood loss. Dammit! Gotta finish this fast if I wanna live._"

Xiran's shields started to recharge, but not fast enough. By the time it was at half charge, the Elite was no more than three meters in front of him.

"_Hope this works._"

Xiran took out a plasma grenade and held it ready. Then out of nowhere, a large green ball of plasma impacted upon the Elite's shields. The alien commander flinched but didn't falter in its charge. Just as the Elite slashed at him, he primed the grenade, threw it at the Elite, and rolled away. The sticky explosive latched onto the Elite's leg. The Elite gaped at the Spartan in surprise as he rolled away, then a second later, it was consumed by a ball of blue-white plasma.

Xiran's own shields were splashed by the explosion as well, and were desperately trying to recharge. The MJOLNIR suit he was wearing now had plasma burns everywhere, and a neat cut from where the energy sword made contact with his arm.

Morgan walked up to him, an overheated plasma pistol still in her hands. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, thanks to you." He made the 'smile' gesture. "But my suit's breached now, and I can't do any of them space ops. If we get on a Covenant ship, I'm afraid that I might not be very helpful." She 'smiled' back.

"Non-sense. Here, this will patch you up in a jiffy." She pulled out a tube of biofoam and a syringe. "Hold still please."

Xiran stood absolutely still where Morgan injected the biofoam into his arm. It felt like a thousand ants crawling into his arm and biting him simultaneously, but he didn't complain. It was helluva lot better than bleeding to death.

"Thanks," said Xiran. He flexed his arm. It still hurt, but it's now a dull ache, as opposed to a sharp pain every time he tried to move it. "I need to stop getting myself hurt."

"Yeah. I know."

"How's the rest of the team? What's their status?"

"They did fine. Karen got cut in the leg and Flavius has a few burns on his side, but other than that, they're fine. No KIAs."

"Good," said Xiran. Then he keyed the COM to all of the Spartans. "Green, Gold, and Red leaders. Report."

"Joanna has a few plasma burns along her left leg and arm but she can still fight, and the damage to her suit isn't too great. We're fine," reported Alie-449, Green Leader.

"Thomas's shield generator is blown out, but other than that, we're fine," announced Gold Leader, Soroush-382.

"Stanley's side is charred and his suit is penetrated right under his ribcage. Eric's suit is burnt as well, but there's no penetration there. We're good as well."

"Good. Gold Team, scout around and look for survivors. Kill them on sight."

"Roger that." Soroush turned off the COM and moved his team out. A few minutes later, his voiced returned. "We're done. We found a few Grunts and Jackals and they've been eliminated."

"Good work team. Let's rendezvous here." He uploaded a NAV point onto his Spartans' heads up displays. It was about two kilometres north-west of his currant position, towards the direction of HQ. The Spartans acknowledged the orders and snapped off their COMs.

"Let's go, Spartans! Double time!" he barked to his own team. They ran down to their rendezvous point and found all of the other Spartans there already. He looked around at his Spartans and found them ready. Quite a few of them sported minor burns on their armour, but that's nothing unusual.

"All right guys, here's the plan," said Xiran. He pointed at the Covenant cruiser hovering about thirty meters above the ground. "You see that? We're going to capture a few Covenant vehicles, get in there, and hijack a few of those dropships that are docked inside that big whale. Then we're gonna fly them out of there, and we'll fly them to another cruiser up there, since this cruiser is likely to stay here for a while. Then we'll hitch a ride with them, and we'll wreak havoc aboard that ship. Then once we capture it, we can get reinforcements from Earth to search the ship for tracking devices. Then we'll bring it back to Earth, and the technicians at ONI will integrate this technology into our own ships. That's the grand plan. Sound good?"

Danielle raised her hand. "What if we don't manage to capture it? What if they find Earth, and we haven't captured that cruiser by then? Then they'll jump to Earth and we'll be torn apart by the MAC guns around Earth."

"That's why we aren't going to fail. Besides, the Covenant have developed a drop pod, similar to the ones ODSTs use. If all else fails, we'll take those and drop to Earth. They're designed for Elites and we're roughly the same size as them, so we should fit."

"But we don't know the Covenant written text and neither does our translators. How do we operate it?"

"We'll figure that out when we get there. But for now, we need to hijack a few dropships. Let's go back to HQ and get some equipment. We'll need it." He uploaded a NAV to where HQ was. "All right boys and girls, let's get a move on! Double time!"

They all ran back to Headquarters and found it completely evacuated.

"Let's go to the armory and get some weapons. For those of you that want specialist weapons, you're welcome to take them, but make sure each team has at least one sniper and a rocket guy."

They made their way to the armory, and picked up weapons ammo and grenades. Xiran took a sniper rifle. He also took ten extended, and five normal clips for it. The normal clips contained four bullets each, whereas the extended clips held eight. He slung the sniper rifle across his back, and picked up a standard MA5B assault rifle. He grabbed ten clips of ammo for that too. Four fragmentation grenades went into his grenade compartment and he was ready. He looked around and saw that everyone had an assault rifle. Some of them only had double pistols as sidearms, whereas others slung a larger weapon across their backs and carried an assault rifle. After everyone was done, they assembled at the entrance of the armory.

"All right, let's head in the general direction of the cruiser. If we find an Apparition on the way, then we'll fly it out of here. If we don't find one outside of the cruiser, then we'll get into it, hijack one, and the fly it out. Any questions?"

No one spoke up.

"Good, let's get ready. Split up into four teams, just like before. Our destination is here." He uploaded a map of the surrounding region with a NAV marker on it to the rest of the Spartans. "The destination is due west, but we need to approach it from different directions. Red and Gold teams will attack from the center while Blue Team approaches them from the southeast. Green Team will attack from the northeast. We will try breakthrough into the main ship. Either that or we'll hijack an Apparition that's docked outside of the cruiser. If you can get any sort of cover of stealthy advance, then do so."

"Are we going to make our way there on foot?" asked Karen.

"Yes. Although we have a large amount of Warthogs and even a few Scorpions available to us, we're going to go no foot because the vehicles are too noisy." He paused and glanced at his Spartans. They seemed so much stronger than they were this morning, before they set out to do their work.

"This operation will start as soon as it gets dark, and that should be about two more hours."

Acknowledgements winked on. He looked at his team again, and then for no reason whatsoever he looked at the setting sun. It was a beautiful sight to behold, and he hoped that he would survive to witness this beautiful sight again.

------------------------------

_**A/N: 'Helluva' means 'Hell of a'...so 'helluva lot better' means 'hell of a lot better'. Just for those people that didn't know what 'helluva' meant...**_

_**Another A/N: Headquarters is NOT Castle Base.**_


	16. Chapter 15: Belly of the Beast

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

_**A/N: Sorry this is taking so long, but this flashback is taking much longer than I expected. Then again, I guess I'm trying to sum up Halo: First Strike from another person's point of view, so I guess that's bound to take a while. Hopefully there will only be one or two more flashback chapters after this one, then we're back to the Master Chief and the Arbiter. Thanks for reading!**_

_**Another A/N: I changed the Prologue on November 14, 2005 because it was a crappy prologue before. Now it's so much better, so if you haven't read the prologue after the date stated above, please go read it! Yay! Thanks for reading guys!**_

_**Yet Another A/N: Some of these A/Ns are a bit out of date, because I'm too lazy to erase them, so if they don't make sense, then just ignore them...assuming that you read them of course. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**_

------------------------------

**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 15**

**Belly of the Beast**

------------------------------

The remaining twenty-nine Spartans patiently waited at HQ for the night to come. While they were waiting, they amused themselves by exploring the base and salvaging anything remotely useful, whether it was information, equipment, or even entertainment.

About one hour has passed since they've arrived at the base, and they've found all sorts of interesting things. They found some new weapons that the UNSC was testing, and according to the files attached to it, they were called the BR55 rifle, or, as many of the testers preferred, the battle rifle. There was a stripped down version of the M6D, and an upgraded version of it as well. They were appropriately labelled as the M6C and the M6E pistols. While the M6C lacked the power and accuracy of the M6D, it fired a lot faster, whereas the M6E fired almost as slow as a shotgun, it was more accurate than the M6D and packed a lot more punch as well.

Then there were the M7 Caseless Submachine guns they found. Almost everybody preferred the old fashioned MA5B to the M7 because the MA5B was almost twice as strong and had much more stopping and penetration power. The only one who preferred the M7 to the MA5B was Kyle. Kyle loved to spray bullets at hostile enemies and the M7 was small enough to be dual-wielded. Kyle originally had an assault rifle and two pistols but upon spotting the SMGs, he immediately ditched the pistols and replaced them with twin submachine guns. He also grabbed _a lot_ of clips for it, because it was a relatively weak weapon. That didn't lessen his love for the automatic weapon he had trained with all his life however. He picked up almost as many clips for the assault rifle as he did for his twin SMGs. He even emptied one of his grenade compartments for clips, leaving him with only four grenades to work with, as opposed to the eight all the other Spartans had. Kyle really did love his automatic weapons, and that love would be his downfall.

Weapons weren't the only things they found. They tapped into the computers there and found information. The coordinates to other human worlds were already erased, as per Cole Protocol, but the maps of Reach were still intact. This barely gave them any advantage however, since they knew Reach like the back of their hands already since they had trained here all their lives.

While Kyle was busy fiddling around with automatic weapons, Xiran had taken a few Spartans with him to scout out the base and took anything useful. So far, they only found weapons, ammo, and the maps. What he really wanted was something smart and useful for cracking into the Covenant battle net, like an AI. He was in luck.

As he entered one of the two control rooms, he found two chips of memory crystals inserted into where the AIs would usually reside. Xiran approached cautiously to examine the crystals. Suddenly, two holographic images sprung out of two pedestals close to the data ports. There were two AIs slotted in the controls. One was a 'female' AI, and the other was a 'male' AI.

The 'girl' AI's name was Aphrodite, named after the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and sexual desire. Although many depictions of Aphrodite involved her standing there naked and unclad, the AI Aphrodite was clothed with a shining white robe, which covered her more salient features.

The 'guy' was called Tlaloc. He named himself after the Aztec god of rain, agriculture, and fertility. The image of the AI was somewhat peculiar. Even though the original pictures of the god Tlaloc, drawn by the Aztecs, showed an inhuman blue creature with fangs, the AI Tlaloc decided to change that image a bit. The AI's image is of a man with an unusual square head and blue skin. He had neither fangs nor claws, so he appeared at least semi-human.

"Finally, a human! I was afraid we might have to erase ourselves to prevent the Covenant from capturing us." The girl, Aphrodite, sighed with relief. She paused, then she said. "You're a Spartan."

"Yes I am," replied Xiran, not knowing where this conversation would lead to.

"Good. If I'm correct in assuming this, and I'm correct ninety nine point nine percent of the time, then you have a slot on the side of your helmet where you can put me."

"Yes. I do."

"Then what are waiting for? Yank me."

"What?" exclaimed Xiran.

"Not that kind of yank, you pervert," sighed Aphrodite.

"I wasn't thinking of...oh never mind. I'll take you." He strode over to the slot where Aphrodite's memory chip was in, and ejected it. Then he popped it into his helmet's 'AI slot'.

An interesting sensation swept through Xiran's mind that was quite unlike any that he's ever experienced. There was a hissing noise, followed by a pop, and then a sensation not unlike liquid being poured through his ears and into his brain.

"Interesting suit you have here. Although I have analyzed these suits before, I've never done so from inside of one."

"I see," replied Xiran, unsure of what else to say.

"Do you, by any chance, have another Spartan to carry my friend Tlaloc?" she continued.

"Yeah, I'll call one of them in here," he replied.

"You don't need to say that out loud you know, I can hear your thoughts, although the word 'hear' might not be entirely accurate. However, all you have to do is think the thought, and I'll know what you're thinking."

Xiran didn't reply, but he did call for a Spartan, complying with her earlier request. Shortly after he called, three Spartans marched in.

"Who wants to take this AI here?" he asked casually and tilted his head slightly towards the holographic figure of Tlaloc. Tlaloc scowled and made a little growling noise.

The four Spartans debated on who should take the AI, and eventually, they decided that it was best for the Gold Team Leader, Soroush, to take him.

Soroush walked over to the controls, pulled Tlaloc out of the system, and inserted the AI into his own helmet. There was a hissing noise, and it was done.

"Come on, let's go search out the rest of this facility, just in case the others left something else important," suggested Xiran.

The others agreed instantly and scattered throughout the complex. An hour later, all the Spartans gathered in the main garage to report their findings. About half of them turned up empty handed, but what the other Spartans found compensated for that. They pooled their findings together and found that they had quite a stock of weapons. Over two hundred rockets were found for their rocket launchers, as well as hundreds of grenades. There were plenty of assault rifle ammo for everybody and it would last – Xiran quickly did the mathematics in his head – for about twenty five hours of continuous fire from all twenty nine of them. Sniper ammo was common too, as were pistol rounds and shotgun shells. Unfortunately, they already enough ammo for this operation, and the extra was completely worthless.

Finally, they got down to the more serious weaponry, the anti-tank mines and other explosives. They found about a dozen Lotus anti-tank mines, and a quartet of Fury tactical nukes. Unfortunately, the nukes were completely useless in this situation because the EMP would fry the generators.

"Whoever wants an anti-tank mine, take it now, but leave the tactical nukes. We can't use them this close to the generators," ordered Xiran. "Danielle and Amy. Go stash these in a secure place and disarm them. We can't let the Covenant detonate these." He pointed at the nukes, which were each about the size of a football.

"Yes, sir," replied Amy and Danielle nodded. With a nuke under each arm, the two Spartans disappeared into the base.

The next hour passed without much excitement. The Spartans were instructed to stay off the COM channels unless it was an emergency. They were to keep quiet as well. Eight Spartans were posted on guard and patrol duty and the rest patiently waited.

"All right. It's time," said Xiran finally.

"About time you said that," said Aphrodite.

"It wasn't that long of a wait you know," replied Xiran, thumbing the safety on and off his sniper rifle.

"Whatever. Give me a minute to hack into the Covenant battle net. You should probably start now. I'll be done in a second."

"Right. Spartans, you know the plan. We discussed this earlier. Go in stealthily, and make as little contact with the enemy as possible and let the snipers take out the stronger enemies before advancing."

Acknowledgement lights winked and Xiran smiled. "Let's move out!"

The Spartans separated into their four groups again and the team leaders led the teams apart. Red, Gold, and Green teams were soon out of sight.

"Do you think we're going to get out of this alive, sir?" asked Kayleigh.

"I don't know, but we're certainly going to try," replied Xiran grimly.

------------------------------

Zek Lemanee was a SpecOps Commander, a high position in the warrior ranks of the Sangheili. The only positions that held more power were the Ship Masters, and the Councillors. Although the Zealots technically outranked him as well, most SpecOps Commanders and Zealots were treated in the same way.

He glanced around at the Human world. Most of the land the Covenant now possess had already been battle worn and scarred. There were several trees on fire and there were bodies everywhere, Human and Covenant alike. There were several wrecked Ghosts around, and plasma leaked from their fuel cells and engines, melting the dirt underneath it. There were Human vehicles around as well. Several Human "Warthogs" were overturned and on fire, and there even was a Scorpion tank here. Several Ghosts and a heroic Sangheili foot soldier managed to bring the behemoth down, but only managed doing so by scoring a lucky hit on the turret. The white hot plasma had fused the main cannon of the tank shut, and when it tried to fire, the high velocity shell exploded as soon as it encountered the blockage. The blast killed the driver and destroyed most of the tank, but enough remained so that you can tell what it once was.

Lemanee sighed. The resulting explosion had taken out two Ghosts and the foot soldier, which happened to be one of the best under his command. He sighed again and looked around for a sign of what he was supposed to be looking for. He found none. He yet sighed again, and signalled for his troops to stay alert. The Sangheili warriors under his command acknowledged with nods of their heads or low pitched grunts, while the Unggoy and Kig-Yar made their various high pitched squeaks and barks.

To many others, Lemanee was a hero to them because of the numerous battles he had survived, including four encounters with the infamous Demons. Even though he hadn't killed a Demon, to escape them four times is an incredible feat.

The reason he survived was because he was different. He was very much like another Sangheili SpecOps Commander, the one known as Half-Jaw. He and Half-Jaw had grown up together, and joined the Covenant army together. The two Sangheili youths soon became very adept at their combat skills and soon achieved high position in the Covenant army. Half-Jaw a SpecOps warrior, and Lemanee a SpecOps Commander. Half-Jaw was in Lemanee's squad most of the time and acted as second in command. He had all of his mandibles back then but soon that was about to change.

One day, they were charged with a particularly dangerous mission to destroy a Human stronghold near the Human city of Côte d'Azur. The complex consisted of tight corridors and had very little room for manuvering. When Half-Jaw went around a corner, he was greeted by a shotgun round. Fortunately, SpecOps warriors had very strong shielding, so the shotgun didn't kill him. It drained all of his shields though. The Human discarded the shotgun and drew his sidearm, the almost laughably weak pistol. The Human shot three times at this head but missed. One shot hit his chest plate, which prevented his shields from regenerating for another five seconds. In a final act of desperation, the Human lunged at the SpecOps warrior and grasped his mandibles. He had remarkable strength for a Human because the bones and cartilage in Half-Jaw's two mandibles snapped. Half-Jaw howled in pain and quickly shot the Human dead with a plasma rifle, before he could do any more harm.

Later, after the Human stronghold had been captured, Lemanee was promoted to SpecOps Commander for his acts of bravery and sacrifice.

A slight movement in the distance broke his train of thought. He then took the binoculars from his belt and looked through them. Nothing. Then suddenly, one of his warrior's shields flared and disappeared. There was a white trail of air being pushed apart and it quickly disappeared.

"Sniper! Get down!" cried Lemanee.

Too late. The warrior that took the first bullet was immediately struck by a second. A gaping hole appeared in his chest as the SpecOps soldier screamed in anger and pain. A third bullet struck him in the center of his head. The helmet held for a second, then it collapsed as the round penetrated his skull and exited through the back of his head.

_Crack!_

Another sniper round whizzed through the air and punched through an Unggoy's methane tank. The spark created by the bullet hitting the methane tank caused it to explode in a ball of fire.

"Ah! We're all gonna die!" shrieked the Unggoy what was standing right next to his friend, who exploded.

"Get down," barked Lemanee again. Everyone dived to the ground and no more sniper rounds came their way.

After a minute or two, they got back up and tried to find a hint of where the sniper round came from. A thin, shattered branch gave them this information.

"I suggest that we go hunt down the one responsible, your Excellency," suggested one of his Unggoy.

Lemanee pondered this suggestion for a while. Then replied. "Yes. We shall, but first we will arm ourselves first. It would not hurt to bring a few Kig-Yar snipers with us as well."

"Yes, your Excellency," replied the Unggoy.

The SpecOps Commander looked out at the hills in ahead of him, then the hills behind him, which hid their temporary base. Then he looked up. Directly above the base, was a cruiser.

The cruiser was a comfort to him because no Human weapon can penetrate it when it was this low off the ground. One of their super dense projectiles would blow the planet apart, and he was sure that the Humans didn't want that.

The only way he could think of to destroy the cruiser was by detonating a nuclear or plasma bomb _inside_ it, and that was highly unlikely because of the hundreds of Covenant troops surrounding the base of the main gravity lift. There were also almost ten thousand Covenant soldiers inside the cruiser.

"Let's move out," ordered Lemanee as his squad made their way back to the cruiser.

------------------------------

"Blue Team is in position for assault," said Xiran over a secure channel.

"Red and Gold teams are in position and ready," came the reply.

"Green Team will be at where they're supposed to be in a while. ETA one minute and thirty seconds."

They waited for about a minute and Green Team reported in.

"We're ready."

"Good," replied Xiran. "Let's begin."

Four rockets were fired in response, then four more. A makeshift armory exploded in a giant ball of plasma and fire as three rockets impacted upon it. Meanwhile, the other rockets streaked towards where the Ghosts, Spectres, and Wraiths were parked.

The Covenant vehicles exploded one after another as a chain reaction started amongst them. Meanwhile, the Spartans with the rocket launchers reloaded their launchers and shot two more volleys.

The first volley of rockets impacted upon various points along a Banshee hanger. It collapsed, crushing the Covenant aircrafts contained within. The second volley struck the already collapsed hanger, destroying anything that might've survived.

"Save your rockets, we might need them later," ordered Xiran over the COM. The four Spartans equipped with rocket launchers acknowledged the orders and switched to their assault rifles. Xiran continued. "Snipers, try to take out as many Elites and Hunters as possible. The Grunts and Jackals can wait their turn."

The seven other snipers sent their confirmation signals. Xiran raised his own sniper rifle, activated the night vision, and went down to work. The first to fall was an authoritative looking Elite, a veteran, since it wore crimson armour. It was trying to restore order to his squad, which was consisted mostly of Grunts. The Grunts ran in circles, and shot wildly at random objects, be it a tree, a rock, or fellow soldiers. That was the unspoken code of action for the Grunts: When in doubt, shoot.

The veteran Elite grasped a troublesome Grunt by the neck and threatened the poor creature with many horrible things including disembowelment and public humiliation. Suddenly, a ghostly white trail struck the Elite in the side of the head, piercing through his energy shield and helmet. The Elite's grip loosened as he died, and the Grunt waddled away, gasping and screaming at the top of its lungs.

Xiran looked for another Elite and zoomed in on his target. _Crack_! A Hunter toppled over a frightened Jackal. _Crack_! A minor Elite that just emerged from its sleeping quarters fell to the ground. _Crack_! Another veteran Elite fell beneath Xiran's expert sniper skills.

Xiran clicked the magazine release and the empty sniper magazine fell to the ground. Another thump was heard as the other sniper on Blue Team, Alex, also dropped an empty magazine. Then Xiran and Alex, in unison, drew out another magazine and slapped it into the rifle. There was a satisfying click as they got back down to work.

------------------------------

Hagag woke up to explosions, alarms, screams of death, and the sounds of Human weapons being fired.

"The Humans have found us! All is lost!" cried another voice from his sleeping quarters.

Hagag turned around and saw his friend, Zahah, running around in circles shrieking his head off.

"Be quiet Zahah, or the Sangheili commanders will come and tell us to fight!" squeaked Hagag. Zahah immediately stopped his shrieking. He now ran around in circles whispering "we're screwed, we're screwed" over and over.

Hagag kicked his companion in the shins. Zahah stopped running and fell clutching his leg.

"What did you do that for?" asked Zahah through clenched teeth.

"Shut up or I'll do it again," threatened Hagag and Zahah immediately shut his mouth and kept his writhing to a bare minimum. The other Unggoy in the quarters watched in amusement, but Hagag gave them a stare that spoke volumes, a useful trick he learned from the Sangheili, and they stopped staring.

"You guys stay here. I'll go outside and see what's going on," said Hagag. The other Unggoy said nothing as he made his way out of the tent, shaking from head to toe.

The scene he witnessed wasn't a pleasant one. There was chaos everywhere. His fellow Unggoy soldiers ran rampant and shot at anything that moved. The Kig-Yar weren't much better off. The most disturbing thing he witnessed was the lack of living Sangheili commanders trying to give orders. He saw many dead ones though. He gulped and returned to where the Unggoy under his command were waiting.

He waddled back into the tent and was immediately greeted by a plasma pistol charge shot. Thankfully, the shot was slow and the Unggoy dodged it. The bolt hit one of the walls and created a shiny crater where an inch of metal used to be.

"You fool!" shrieked Hagag. "It's me!"

"Sorry sir. We thought it might've been a Human," replied Zahah, who was still on the ground.

"Do I look like a Human to you?" cried Hagag angrily.

Just as he finished the sentence, two figures burst through the door Hagag just entered from. The figures had shiny green armour, although they were dented, scratched, and burnt in several places.

They also wielded steel grey, Human weapons.

Hagag turned around at the noise and was immediately put down by a kick to the face. The other Unggoy did what they did best; they ran in circles, screaming, while shooting randomly. The figures then pulled the triggers of their weapons and a hail of bullets engulfed the rest of his squad.

Hagag weakly raised his plasma pistol and shot a bolt at one of the Humans' exposed backs. Hagag grinned as the bolt hit the Human squarely in the shoulder blades, but the grin quickly faded as a yellow energy shield around the figure absorbed the blast. The Human turned around to look at Hagag's semi-prone form, raised the Human weapon it carried, and fired.

------------------------------

The Spartans looked around the destroyed Covenant camp and looked for any survivors. There were none. Then they looked for an operational Banshee or Apparition. The first place they looked in was the hanger they destroyed earlier. Unfortunately, the only operational Banshee only rose about a meter off the ground due to the vast damage that was done to one of the gravitational pods on its left wing.

"Looks like we'll have to go up the lift," said Aphrodite coolly.

"Yeah, I guess so," replied Xiran with the same casual coolness. The female AI snorted, but didn't comment.

"All right Spartans. There were no operational Apparitions or Banshees here so we'll have to go to our backup plan. We'll have to go up into the ship and find one there."

"Yeah," replied Danielle.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."

Together, the twenty-nine Spartans sprinted towards the grav lift, which was a little less than a kilometre from their currant position. When they were no more than fifty meters away, Soroush suddenly shouted a warning.

"Covenant! Coming down the lift!"

The Spartans looked up and indeed, there were two Elites leading several Jackals and Grunts coming down the lift.

"Alex and I will take them," said Xiran as he unslung his sniper rifle and clicked off the safety. Alex did the same. They zoomed in on their targets and sniped away. Loud cracks from their sniper rifles filled the night and a few seconds later, the dead bodies of the Grunts, Jackals, and Elites hit the base of the lift.

"Let's go before they send more reinforcements!" barked Xiran as he slung his sniper rifle and drew his MA5B. The Spartans sprinted towards the gravity lift and eagerly jumped in. The effects of the reversed gravity in the lift immediately hit them. Xiran felt the blood rush to his head and felt strangely light-headed. He looked down and saw that he was already several meters into the air. He glanced around and saw his Spartans rushing upwards all around him.

As they reached the top of the lift, a hatch automatically opened to let them in. The Spartans all landed inside the ship, and the hatch closed again. He glanced around at the room he was in. There were quite a few weapon pods in it and most of the plasma rifles and needlers in them were secured so that they wouldn't fall out when they descended down the grav lift. There were also half a dozen Ghosts, as well as a pair of Wraiths. The Wraiths and Ghosts wouldn't fit into the many doors surrounding the room. A Ghost might _just_ fit, but the rider would be terribly exposed since Ghosts weren't meant to manuver in such tight spaces.

The Covenant weapons in the canisters wouldn't be needed...yet. All in all, the room was everything Xiran expected it to be except for one disturbing factor.

There were no Covenant soldiers present.

"What? There's no Covenant here?" asked an amused Soroush.

"Don't jinx it man," chided Danielle jokingly.

"You believe in luck?" asked Soroush.

"No, but you never know."

Just as Danielle finished the last word of her sentence, six of the eight doors surrounding the room slid open and Grunts, Jackals and Elites rushed out of them.

"No Covenant eh? You just had to say it didn't you?" said Xiran sardonically as he raised his assault rifle and pulled the trigger.

------------------------------

_**A/N: Since there is the "review reply" option on FFN (and because we aren't allowed to post replies here anymore), no more reviews will be addressed. I will use the review reply system and deliver my replies there. If you have submitted an anonymous review, then I'll probably email you with my response. On a related note, I am now taking the other review replies off the other chapters as well. Thanks for reading...and review please!**_

_**Another A/N: Sorry this took so long guys, but I had a ton of school work. Actually I still have a ton of work left, but...whatever. Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review!**_


	17. Chapter 16: The Trojan Horses

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

**_A/N: Please don't flame, especially if you have no clue what the hell you're talking about. For an example of this, please see _Blackdiablo19_'s review (Chapter 9, Anonymous FFN's chapter nine, my chapter 8). It is obvious he hasn't played Halo 2. Anyway, for the rest of you, thanks for reading my story!_**

_**Another A/N: Please don't flame the guy stated above because he has already apologized to me. Thanks!**_

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**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 16**

**The Trojan Horses**

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Zek Lemanee led his squad back towards their base, which was directly underneath the cruiser. When he arrived, he found the base in complete ruins.

"By the Gods, what has happened here?" he asked to no one in particular.

"Everyone's here is dead, but how? There were more than a hundred soldiers here, what kind of a force can defeat so many?" asked one of his fellow SpecOps warriors.

The reply was a short one. "Demons."

------------------------------

Light blue blood sprayed against an immobile Wraith as the creature housing the liquid fell to the ground with half a dozen bullet holes in its environment suit. It's teammate shrieked and managed to fire off a single plasma bolt before it was cut down as well. A third alien overcharged the plasma pistol in its claws and aimed it at one of the Spartans, but a bullet caught it in the side just as it was about to fire. It groaned in pain and the plasma bolt discharged from the pistol. The shot went wide and seared into the purple ceiling above its intended target.

"Thanks," muttered Thomas, whose shield generator was destroyed in a previous encounter. A plasma blast that size would've punched a hole right through his MJOLNIR armour.

"No prob," replied the Spartan who saved him, Danielle. She tapped the trigger of her assault rifle and a single round spat out. The round hit home as it whizzed through the air and lodged itself into a Jackal's foot. The Jackal flinched and exposed itself for a second. Two more rounds caught it in its midsection and it doubled over. Blood oozed from its wound as it slowly collapsed and died.

Meanwhile, all around the room, other Spartans engaged what seemed to be an endless wave of Covenant soldiers. There were bodies everywhere and most of them were piled at the doors from which they came out of.

"Fire in the hole!" cried Soroush as he primed a captured plasma grenade and tossed it at one of the doors. The grenade landed close to the pile of dead Covenant soldiers and vaporized them instantly. The EMP released from the grenade also scrambled the circuits operating the door, thus preventing the doors from being opened, unless it was wrenched apart by force.

Xiran saw how the plasma 'nades disrupted the electronics within the door mechanism and an idea came to him.

"Plasma grenades on my mark. Get it close enough to the doors so that the EMP could scramble the door controls, but not enough to punch a hole through it. Get all doors except this one." He uploaded a NAV point to the door closest to him. Then he waited for three seconds and cried. "Mark!"

Over twenty plasma grenades sailed towards the doors and exploded almost simultaneously, creating large craters of glass in front of the doors. The plan worked, and all of the doors stopped working. One of the doors was disabled when it was open, so two Spartans immediately moved to it and closed it manually. Then they turned their attention to the only door that was still operational. It opened, and all twenty-nine Spartans levelled their assault rifles at the door, but there was nothing...or so it seemed.

Karen noticed a shimmer in the air as the door opened. At first, she thought that she was merely tired, or that she imagined it, but then she recalled that the Covenant possessed light bending active camouflage technology.

"Camouflaged Elites!" she cried. As she cried out, blades of pure plasma shot out from nowhere. One of the glowing swords slashed at Xiran and he ducked just in time. The Spartans saw the sword and now had a point around which they could fire, and so they did. The Elite took no less than sixty rounds to its body in a second and was immediately killed. The other two camouflaged Elites tried to achieve a kill but failed as a barrage of metallic projectiles disabled their active camouflage generators and punched through their armour. Soon, five Elites in blue-grey armour lay dead at the feet of the Spartans.

They scanned the room for any other hidden assailants and found none. Satisfied, Xiran opened his mouth to give another order, but before he could do that, Aphrodite intervened.

"Allow me," she said.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" asked Xiran.

"Yes. Trust me."

"All right. Go ahead," replied Xiran. The AI's voice boomed out of the helmet's external speakers and briefed the team.

"The Covenant know that there's something wrong with this ship now. Tlaloc and I tried to block the distress signal, but they sent too many." She paused and waited for a question to be asked. When none was asked, she continued. "Now about this mission. I'll have to let you know that there are only five operational Apparitions left on this ship. If all of us were to escape from this cruiser alive, we need to capture at least four of the five dropships. Unfortunately, there are six loading bays, and the Apparitions are located in five of the six bays. I advise the teams to split up into four teams and each team will take a dropship."

Then the normally silent Tlaloc spoke up. "Aphrodite and I will try to jam their communication devices. We'll also fiddle around with the controls and notify you of Covenant troop movements and placements."

"Yes. Your next targets will be here, here, here, here, or here." Five different NAV points appeared on the Spartans' heads up displays.

"Okay team, we'll split up like before. Green Team, you are to go down the grav lift and prevent any Covenant troops from entering the grav lift. Gold Team, you are to remain here to guard the grav lift from the inside. When I give the signal, go down the lift and wait for pickup. Any question?"

When no one spoke up, he continued. "Red Team will split themselves into two teams. Team Alpha and Beta. My team will also split into two. Team Gamma and Delta."

Xiran opened up his roster and quickly selected his teammates. Kyle, Kayleigh, Morgan were with him in Team Gamma, while Karen, Flavius, Alex, and May were put on Team Delta. Red Team also separated themselves to become Team Alpha and Team Beta. Then he tasked each team with a separate hanger to capture.

"Where do we meet once we've hijacked the ships?" asked Maria.

"We'll decide that once we get out. Any other questions?" No one spoke up. "Let's go."

The grav lift opened and Green Team went down to the surface. Gold Team stayed where they were, and Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta teams went through the only door still operational in the room. After a few meters, the path split into two separate corridors. Another fork in the road and Gamma was on its own.

"Kyle, you take point. Kayleigh, you take the rear," ordered Xiran and they moved accordingly.

The first attack came in a dimly lit corridor. The Spartans turned a corner and the corridor that was in front of them was pitch black. The lights that were usually in hallways such as these were turned off. Kyle turned on his flashlight, and the rest of Gamma Team followed suit. They proceeded through the corridor, when suddenly, Kyle's shields flared and he staggered back.

"Invisible Elites! Heads up!" cried Kyle as he opened fire with his twin SMGs. The torrent of bullets disabled the camouflaged generators and three armoured Elites stood before him.

Now that the Elites could be seen, Morgan and Xiran fired three AR rounds each. The Elite that took the shots crashed against a wall with blood coming out of its mouth. Another six rounds each finished the other two Elites.

A hatch opened from the ceiling and three Grunts jumped out. Normally, Grunts were nothing to worry about, but this time, one of the three had a lit plasma grenade in its paws.

With a grunt, the alien threw the plasma grenade directly at Kyle. Kyle ducked just in time and the explosive flew over his head and landed on the ground. _Boom_! The Spartans' auto-dampening systems made the sudden flash of light more bearable. The plasma splashed across the wall, burning the violet material. A crater now exists in the hallway as well. The Grunts' nerve then broke, and they tried to run.

"No you don't!" muttered Kyle and he opened fire with both of his SMGs. Blood and gore flew through the air as the bullets struck the Grunts, causing them to shriek in pain. Five seconds later, everything was quiet.

Kyle walked over to one of the fallen Elites and policed their plasma grenades.

"Let's go."

And so they went. The next hall they went into consisted of ten sleeping Grunts. The punishment for being asleep on duty involved a smack to the head, and a bullet to the face, for each of them.

Finally, after going through many corridors in the mazelike interior of the ship, they reached the hanger where their objective was. There was a big problem. No less than half a dozen Hunters guarded the craft, not the mention the two dozen or so Elites. The Grunts were too many to count.

"Analyzing," Aphrodite said to herself. Then she spoke to Gamma Team using their internal speakers. That holo-panel there will deactivate the plasma force fields blocking the exits. However, as soon as we disable the shields, every Covenant member will fire at our position, which could be a problem."

Xiran looked at the controls, then at the dropship they were trying to commandeer. The cockpit hatch appeared to be open, as were the passenger tubes. All right, here's the plan. We have to neutralize the Hunters first, but we _can't_ damage the ship in the process. We throw plasma grenades on my mark. And try to get two on each Hunter. That should neutralize the biggest threat. Then, May will stay here to deactivate the shields while the rest of us jump down and kill the rest of them. Finally, May will jump down and strap herself in – _quickly_ – and I'll fly us out of here." Seven acknowledgement lights winked on. "What do you think?" he asked the AI in his helmet.

"Simple, yet effective...if you can pull it off."

"We will."

"In that case. Go for it."

Xiran smiled. "Grenades on my mark." He waited two heartbeats. "Mark!"

A volley of four glowing orbs flew through the air and adhered to their unsuspecting victims, followed by two more volleys. The grunts of surprise issued by the Hunters were immediately drowned out by the crackling detonations of the plasma explosives.

"Spartans! Go, go, go!" cried Xiran as he leaped down from the upper hallways, emptying an entire clip of AR rounds before hitting the ground. He ducked behind a pillar, reloaded, and popped back into action.

As Karen dropped down, she unbuckled her only Lotus anti-tank mine and, with a flick of her wrist, flung it was a group of unsuspecting Grunts and an unfortunate Elite Major. A bright orange ball of fire consumed the Covenant soldiers and secondary explosions took place as the flames found the Grunts' methane supplies. Tertiary explosions bloomed as the plasma grenades attached to the soldiers detonated as well.

Fourteen Covenant lives were lost to the mine, a worthy trade.

Seventy-seconds after they had dropped down, all of the Elites were neutralized, so the rest of the aliens' nerves broke, and they fled.

"Get in!" cried Xiran even as he climbed into the cockpit and closed the door. The interior of the cockpit was dimly lit and cramped, but perfectly all right under the circumstances.

May unlocked the energy barrier and jumped down from above. She climbed in, strapped herself down, and sent Xiran a message saying that she was in. Xiran acknowledged, then he looked at the alien, yet strangely familiar symbols on the ship's controls. He clicked one of them and the hatches of the passenger tubes hissed shut. He brushed his hands over another and blew a hole in the wall with the ship's plasma cannon.

"That could come in handy," he muttered to himself and stored the information for later use.

He grazed another set of controls with his fingers and the Covenant craft rose a few meters into the air. He then grasped the 'steering wheel' and keyed the accelerator. The ship shot out of the hovering Covenant cruiser and into the blackness of space.

As his ship cleared the cruiser, he saw two other Apparitions speeding in the same general direction as his, and another two were clearing the cruiser from the other side...but wait a second. There were only _three_ other dropships other than his, that were supposed to be captured, unless someone disobeyed orders, which was highly unlikely. He planted a NAV point on each of the Spartans' helmets and labelled it "Rally Point Omega". In theory, his plan would explain which craft didn't belong to the Spartans.

Whichever ship that doesn't go directly to the rally point clearly belongs to the Covenant. However, if the extra ship decides to tag along, he'll have to think of something else. Fortunately, four ships made beelines towards the rally point while the other sped off in the other direction.

"Green Team and Gold Team. Come in," said Xiran over a secure COM channel.

"Yes, sir," said Soroush and Alyssa.

"We have captured the Apparitions, four of them, and you are to wait here." Xiran uploaded another NAV point about a mile northeast of the ship. "We'll pick you up ASAP."

"Roger that."

"Good. Spartan-381 out." Then he keyed the COM to Alpha, Beta, and Delta teams. "Let's pick them up."

Four Apparitions sped down towards their destination and in less than two minutes, arrived at the pickup site. Green and Gold teams eagerly jumped in and strapped themselves down. The hatches closed and they were in the air once again.

"Incoming," warned Aphrodite.

Xiran looked down at the dropship's detection gear, and saw a dot approaching them quickly. Visual confirmation reported that the extra Apparition that had cleared the ship sped directly towards them.

"All ships. Head up towards the orbiting cruiser. Do not engage the hostile Apparition unless it fires at us."

Suddenly, blossoms of fire erupted along the ship's side. Lances of fire and plasma ravaged the cruiser and quite suddenly, blew it apart. The shields held the explosion within until finally, it gave, and fire and debris flew out in all directions. The hostile Apparition, which was much closer to it than the Spartans were, was blown off course and it plummeted down to the surface of Reach like a wounded duck.

The commandeered dropships vibrated violently as the shockwave coursed through its foundations. Luckily, none of the ships broke apart from the strain. Together, the four dropships sped towards the heavens, where their LZ awaited.

"Everybody okay?" Xiran asked after the shockwave had subsided. Twenty-seven Spartans acknowledged. Thomas hadn't responded, so Xiran checked the roster. He was marked as MIA – missing in action – which probably meant that he was dead.

"What happened?" Xiran asked Soroush, who was Thomas's squad leader, over the COM.

"Hunter." His voice was filled with sadness and regret.

"Don't dawdle over it. We'll have time to cry over it later, but for now, we have a job to do."

"Yes, sir." His voice sounded tougher now.

"Good. Over and out." Then Aphrodite spoke through his internal speakers. "They're hailing you and they want visual confirmation." She paused. "Sending reply now. I'm going to hack into the system and plant an image of an Elite in your place. Whatever you do, don't move, or you'll destroy the image."

"I'll try not to," Xiran replied. He stood as still as a statue and let Aphrodite do all the work.

After a moment, Aphrodite's voice returned. "They've accepted us, but they want to see us immediately after we land, which could be a problem."

"Problem? I see no problem. We get off the ship, kill all of the Covenant onboard the ship, except for the engineers of course, and go to Earth. You and Tlaloc can disable any self-destruct sequences."

"That's all well and good, but according to the Cole Protocol, Subsection Seven, we're not allowed to take Covenant ships to human controlled space without it first being searched from top to bottom for tracking equipment." She paused. "But I think we can get around that. The Covenant have _already_ found Earth, according to these coordinates, so going to Earth wouldn't be a violation of the protocol because they already know the location of Earth."

His first thought after she told him that the Covenant had found Earth was "_WHAT!_" After that his mind started working very quickly. Then what? If the enemy had already found Earth, then the best course of action was to take over this ship and jump to Earth, hailing FLEETCOM and HIGHCOM the whole time, unless he wanted to die a fiery death when MAC rounds from Earth's orbital stations struck the cruiser. The AIs can take care of that.

"We gotta take over this ship as soon as we dock. You and Tlaloc will have to try to jam all communications and self-destruct sequences. Then I'll take a squad of four Spartans and take the bridge while the rest of them secure various other regions of the ship."

"Sounds a bit risky, but I like it," replied Aphrodite after a moment of thought.

"I'll brief the others on the plan."

"It might be best to brief them after we land, because messages can be intercepted." There was a purple light flashing on and off on the controls. "We're being received and will touch down in about forty five seconds."

"Roger that."

"They're welcoming you in," noted Aphrodite as the plasma screens to their hangers opened.

"I can see that," replied Xiran as he manuvered the dropship through the gate. The other three dropships also went into landing bays. Two of them were three decks below them, Aphrodite informed him, and the remaining dropship was a deck above.

"Perfect," murmured Xiran.

The face of a gold armoured Elite appeared on the ship's main viewscreen, and it ordered him to report to the control room of the ship. Aphrodite sent the reply immediately, and the viewscreen faded.

"Get ready to get out and ambush these guys," ordered Xiran over the COM. The Spartans in his Apparition sent their acknowledgement signals immediately. He shut off the COM and looked for the button he pressed earlier on one of the ship's control panels.

"Found it," muttered Xiran as he activated the main Shade cannon located directly below the cockpit. The cannon started glowing and his cameras showed Grunts jumping up and down wildly while Elites roared at them, but none of that mattered when he released the pent up energy. Blades of plasma cut down a dozen Grunts before they could respond. The rest of the Covenant soldiers unsheathed their plasma rifles, plasma pistols, and needlers and started to fire at the dropship, but to no avail.

Two Hunters emerged from one of the doors leading into the landing bays and fired twin bolts of radioactive energy from their fuel rod cannons. The blasts struck the dropship right in the passenger tube, but the armour absorbed the damage. Xiran quickly spun the Shade cannon around to meet this new threat, and the mighty Hunters were turned into two piles of smoking blood and gore in a matter of seconds. When he thought that he had thinned the Covenant forces sufficiently to capture it, he lowered the dropship and opened the two passenger hatches.

Kyle, Kayleigh, Morgan, and three other Spartans leaped out of the dropship with guns blazing. Xiran clicked the cockpit door release and kicked it open. He jumped out and fired at the hostiles all around him. Grunts and Jackals shrieked as they fell. The Elites didn't do much better.

"Watch out! Reinforcements coming through the main foyer!" warned Aphrodite. The large doors opened and squads of Grunts and Jackals came through, followed by their Elite commanders. Upon spotting the Spartans, they barked and a deluge of plasma and crystalline needles were fired at the Spartans.

"Spread out!" cried Xiran and the Human soldiers fanned out, firing while getting into position. The bullets cut through the Grunts like a hot knife through butter. The Jackals did a bit better than their Grunt counterparts, but their handheld energy shields couldn't protect their users when the attacks were coming from everywhere. As a result, the Jackals were eliminated almost as fast as the Grunts.

It was at this point that the Elites found themselves in a very bad situation. When they first came in, they had an entire army to back them up – and to sacrifice. Now, there was nothing in between them and the Spartans except for a very large pile of dead bodies. Then the pride of the Sangheili race overruled their good sense, and they engaged the Spartans.

"Foolish bastards," muttered someone over the COM, but Xiran didn't really care who had said it. Two of the Elites fired their twin plasma rifles at him and he was to force to sidestep it. The air crackled there he was a second before. One of the Elites was shot from the side and fell down into a pool of its own blood. The remaining Elite roared a challenge and charged at Xiran. It was hit from behind by a burst of AR fire and its shields flared, but it paid no heed to the damage. It closed to gap surprisingly quickly and shot Xiran at point blank range. Xiran also raised his assault rifle at the same time. The alien had weaker shields from being shot in the back earlier and the plasma ate away the Spartan's shields faster. The result was that both of the full body shields collapsed at the same time.

_Click_! Xiran glanced down at his rifle. The bolt locked open and the ammo counter read 00.

_Hiss_! The Elite and the Spartan stared at the alien's plasma rifle. It had overheated and excess plasma was spilling out the side. The Elite quickly dropped it and shook its four fingered hand, as if the plasma had burnt him – which probably had since its shields were down.

Wasting no time, Xiran dropped his assault rifle and rammed the Elite with his shoulder, knocking the Elite off balance. The Elite tried to counter the attack and half succeeded. Both warriors sprawled to the ground. Xiran got up and launched at roundhouse kick at the Elite's temple. The alien ducked, grabbed Xiran's foot, and using the Spartan's own momentum to hurl him at the wall. The Spartan was ready for this countermove, since he and his teammates had used it themselves hundreds of times, and turned himself around in midair. He kicked off the wall and flew at the Elite. The Elite gaped open mouthed as the half ton warrior struck it in its midsection. Sparks flew as the barely existent shields collided and were erased. The armour the Elite wore collapsed and cut into its torso. Blood sprayed from the wound and painted the Elite's once crimson armour a dark purple.

Weakened but not defeated, the Elite struggled to rise from its position on the ground. He raised his head and ducked immediately as an armoured green boot impacted upon the side of its helmet. The blow glanced off its helmet and tore it off, leaving a gash on the Elite's hairless scalp.

"No honourable warrior strikes his opponent while he's down," growled the Elite weakly.

Xiran ignored that and crushed the alien's skull. He then went back and retrieved his abandoned assault rifle, ejecting the spent clip and slapping in a new one as he picked it up. There were several scars on the plastisteel of the rifle, but it was still functional.

Had it been a friendly fight between friends, he would've allowed his opponent to get back up before beating him back down again, but this wasn't a friendly fight. He looked at the Elite one last time before speaking into the COM.

"Spartan, report," ordered Xiran. The other three team leaders reported their status. No KIAs, and no major injuries.

_Good_.

"Alright Spartans, this is what we're going to do. There will be new teams. My dropship will be Blue Team. Soroush's dropship will be gold, Alyssa's green, and Joseph's red. Same team leaders, just different members." The Spartans accepted that. Then Xiran continued. "Green Team will locate and destroy all but four dropships aboard this ship. Then they are to secure them and mark it with a orange NAV point."

Green Leader sent her acknowledgement signal.

"Red Team will patrol throughout the ship, looking for any supplies we can use. Grenades, weapons, whatever. Use purple NAV points. Gold Team will be in charge of securing the drop pods. Yellow NAV point. Finally, Blue Team, my own, will be after the bridge of this cruiser, which will be marked with a blue NAV point once we find it."

"Aphrodite and I will keep the ship from self-destructing and we'll feed you other info from time to time," added Tlaloc over the COM.

"You have your orders. Carry them out. Failure is not an option, not ever, not now."

The Spartans noted that.

"Blue Team, let's destroy this dropship and get out of here," said Xiran.

The Spartans quickly went to work and in slightly over a minute, the dropship was in quite a few pieces.

"Let's go find the bridge of the cruiser," said Xiran quietly.

The Spartans nodded and proceeded stealthily through the blood splattered foyer, hoping that Aphrodite and Tlaloc would be able to block any self-destruct sequences.

"I hate space ops," he muttered to no one in particular. Then he pushed his uneasiness to one side and focused on his mission.

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_**A/N: The Covenant cruiser exploded because it was the same one Fred and Kelly planted the Fury Tactical Nukes in (First Strike). The Elder and Younger Spartans weren't revealed to each other and as a consequence, neither knew the others' plans. It was by sheer luck (and the fact that I really need the Younger Spartans in the later chapters) that they survived. Anyway, that's just the explanation for those of you who didn't make the connection.**_

_**Another A/N: Wow! That took so long to update! You wouldn't believe the amount of homework my teachers gave me during the last days of school. They even gave me homework over the holidays! Oh my god! I hate school! Ah well. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. For those of you that are tired of Xiran et al. and want the Master Chief back, I'm sorry but you'll have to wait till the chapter after the next (two chapters from this one). I swear I'll make it super sweet! Thanks for your patience and support!**_


	18. Chapter 17: Going in Feet First

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

_**A/N: Like Eric Nylund and William C. Dietz said, Spartans do things out of duty, not out of cruelty...or at least the Master Chief does. This holds true for most of the Spartans, Younger or Elder. They do things out of necessity, not out of personal pleasure...well, that might be a bit open to argument, but the bottom line is, they do things because they have to. They have no choice, and if they enjoy it in the process, so what?**_

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**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 17**

**Going in Feet First**

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Ship Master Zita Hinomee was discontent. Despite the best ID checking sequences and security, the Demons had somehow landed upon his ship, the _Forbidden Destiny_. Now there were reports throughout the ship, announcing him that the Demons are in that location and wreaking havoc. The only problem is that he got about four or five every minute. He roared his frustration and suppressed his urge to hit something as another report came in.

"Leader! The Demons have captured our last remaining armory on deck four!" a red Sangheili Veteran reported.

"Try to slow their advance at the best of your abilities young warrior and together, we shall crush these filthy animals," said Hinomee.

"Yes, Excellency," mumbled the Veteran Sangheili and he retreated.

"Nikolee! Milokaree! Start the self-destruct sequence. We're taking out all of the accursed Demons and, with this selfless act, we shall be propelled beyond and stars and into the divine beyond!" he ordered his subordinates.

Normally, a Sangheili Ship Master such as himself would not burden themselves with servants to help them, but Hinomee preferred giving orders to living things, as opposed to machines. That's why he had Nikolee and Milokaree helping him with the various command tasks. Some of his brothers didn't approve, but on his ship, he was God, so no one raised any objections.

"Wise decision, Excellency! Initiating the self-destruct countdown now! In exactly five minutes, this ship will detonate!"

"Good," mused Hinomee, glaring at the footage in their security cameras. Four Demons ran into view and opened fire upon their targets, which the camera did not see. Then one of them stared directly at the camera and destroyed it. A wave of static filled that holo-screen. Despite this, he smiled. "What will you Demons do now? Neither your prowess in combat nor your armour will protect you from the destruction of this ship. How will you survive?"

Then his smile turned into a vicious grin. "Simple. You won't."

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"Fire in the hole!" cried Kayleigh as she primed her last remaining frag grenade and lobbed it into a group of Jackals. The explosive hit the floor with a gentle _ping_. The Jackals, recognizing this object, shrieked in terror and tried to get out of the blast radius of the frag.

_Boom_! Five Jackals were blown to pieces. The three surviving aliens were knocked to the ground, gasping for breath.

"I got 'em," muttered Kyle over the COM as he opened fire with his dual submachine guns. The Jackals scrambled to get their shields into place but were too late. The five millimetre rounds penetrated their flesh and blood spurted from their wounds. Their screams of pain echoed in the empty corridor and died away.

"We must be getting close now," said Xiran. "They're putting up a real fight."

"There are more of them now too, I guess they really don't want us to find the bridge of this cruiser eh?"

"The Covenant have activated their self-destruct sequences and we have five minutes before the ship blows!" said Aphrodite over the COM suddenly.

"Do something about it!" replied Xiran urgently.

"We are. At this rate the self-destruct sequence should be neutralized in approximately ten seconds."

"Good, but just in case," he keyed to COM to Green and Gold leaders. "Secure those pods and ship fast. We may have to get out of here in a hurry."

"On it," came the double reply.

He snapped the COM and spoke to his own team. "Spartans, let's move!"

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"Excellency! Our plan has been discovered!" cried the Sangheili warrior known as Milokaree, one of ship operators aboard the _Forbidden Destiny_.

"How so?" replied Hinomee, his growl filled with chagrin.

"They have used their unholy constructs to stop our self-destruct countdown!"

"Awaken the Unggoy, Kig-Yar, and Sangheili warriors that are still in cryo sleep!" he ordered. "Bring the ship up to Combat Alert Alpha."

"Yes, Excellency," Milokaree replied.

"And Milokaree," he added almost as an afterthought.

"What is it?" replied Milokaree, forgetting the customary 'Excellency'.

"Unleash the SpecOps teams."

Milokaree's answering grin was vicious.

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The seven Spartans under Xiran's command, plus himself, moved stealthily along a large hallway. Kyle was in front while Kayleigh covered their six. Everyone else was spaced out evenly so that one lucky grenade couldn't kill them all. At last, the hallway came to an end. A large door, enough to fit a Wraith through stood in their way. There was a holo-panel right beside it.

After pushing every button on the holo-panel, the doors still didn't open.

"Have you stopped the self-destruct sequence?" Xiran asked Aphrodite.

"Yes, we have to constantly monitor it though, in case they try to restart it."

"Good, let Tlaloc handle that. Can you open this door?"

"Sure thing, give me a minute."

That minute turned out to be five seconds. The great doors unlocked and slid open with a hiss. The room was large, about twenty meters high and numerous doors led to the side passages. Weapon crates were scattered all over, as if they were preparing to deliver them before the Spartans arrived. Four Apparitions were parked here, obviously out of commission. Great puddles of coolant and other various liquids resided beneath the transports.

"Looks like Alyssa's team was here," Dominique remarked smugly.

"Indeed, let's move on before Covenant forces arrive. Judging by the lack of bodies, they haven't arrived yet," replied Xiran.

A single sliding door beeped, signifying its opening. "Hide!" whispered Xiran into the COM. The Spartans slid behind the crates without making a sound.

Guttural barks and high-pitched voices identified the hostiles as Grunts. Dominique slid a length of fibre optics wire from behind her cover. Ten of the stubby aliens walked cautiously into the hanger, their needlers and plasma pistols ready.

"How many?" Xiran signed. Dominique placed her assault rifle on the ground without making a noise and raised ten fingers. Xiran looked around and saw that the Grunts were past Morgan and Kayleigh's positions already. He risked a bit of radio chatter.

"Plasma 'nades from behind," was all he said. Kayleigh and Morgan each took out a grenade and primed them. The explosives hissed and sputtered which caused the Grunts to look around, trying to find the source of the noise.

A bright blow orb flew directly at the aliens as they screamed in fright. "Grenade! Run!" cried the one in red armour, their leader.

The Grunts scattered in all directions, screaming in fright. Another plasma grenade sailed at the Grunts and latched onto one of them.

"Not again!" screeched the unlucky Grunt in panic. Xiran wondered about the implications of that for about half a second and found it mildly amusing.

The rest of the Spartans came out of their concealed hiding places and sprayed the Grunts with lead. The screaming was high and panicky as the Grunts were cut down one after another. The lead Grunt, who was more disciplined than the others, fired his needler at Kyle. He heard the sound of a needler being fired behind him and dived behind a purple weapons crate. Explosive pink shards bounced off the crate and exploded harmlessly in midair. Some shards imbedded themselves into the ground and detonated.

The Grunt kept firing until his ammo ran out. Realizing his mistake at the last second, he tried to reload as quietly and quickly as possible. Kyle, hearing the telltale _kaching_! of a needler being reloaded, jumped straight up into the air and unleashed a barrage of five millimetre rounds at the Grunt leader. The Grunt fell into a puddle of its own blood.

"That was just a scout. More will be coming any minute now. Let's move!" ordered Xiran.

"All of the doors on this level are locked, I'll override them," said Aphrodite, her voice calm. "Secure this door." A navigation point appeared on Xiran heads up display. "It's the fastest way to the bridge."

The Spartans sprinted noiselessly to the door. Just then, the door adjacent to it beeped and slid open. An Elite, followed by a platoon of Jackals and Grunts walked through.

"Engage!" cried Xiran, his assault rifle already spewing out deadly 7.62mm rounds. Spent casing fell to the floor with gentle pings. The Grunts in front were killed instantly as the hail of bullets greeted them. The Jackals immediately behind formed a defensive wall with their shields and the Elite crouched behind it. Safe behind the wall of plasma, the Jackals began firing their plasma pistols at the Spartans. Globs of molten glass flew as the bolts of plasma missed their intended targets and hit the unoffending walls. The Spartans continued to fire, trying to find a weak spot in their shields, but there were none.

A Jackal overcharged its plasma pistol and let it loose in Xiran's direction. The plasma's magnetic fields were automatically attracted to the Spartan's energy shields. With a sudden pop, the golden screen disappeared from around Xiran. The other aliens, sensing that he was weak all concentrated their fire on him. The Elite stood up and fired his plasma rifle at Xiran. That proved to be a terrible mistake.

As soon as the Elite rose from its crouched position, the other Spartans took aim with their assault rifles – and Kyle's case, double submachine guns – and fired as one. Lead projectiles impacted upon the Elite's shields from three sides. The personal shield of the Sangheili warrior flashed silver and was dissipated in a heartbeat. The other thirty or so rounds tore it apart.

One Jackal, hearing its commander fall, looked back in a startled glance. His shield slid ever so slightly to one side, which exposed another Jackal's leg. With his shields fully recharged, Xiran jumped out from his cover and fired a trio of rounds into the alien's thigh. The Jackal twisted involuntarily and knocked another one of its comrades' shield out of line. Dominique shot the second Jackal and it crumpled to the ground. With the Jackals out of line, the Spartans took advantage of the hole in the defensive wall.

Morgan primed a plasma grenade and threw it into the hole before the Jackals could close it. In panic, they dove in every direction, trying to avoid the blast. A big shiny crater appeared where the Jackals used to be and the Jackal patrol were five aliens short. Under the combined assault of the Spartans, the remainder of the squad fell very quickly.

"Got it. We should move through now, before any more reinforcements arrive," said Aphrodite. The marked door slid open and the Spartans ran inside.

The proceeded with caution and made their way down the hall silently. There were two sleeping Grunts guarding the door at the end of the corridor. They never woke up. The Spartans proceeded without another word.

The halls of the Covenant ships were confusing, and there were dead ends everywhere and the twisting and turning didn't help much either. The Covenant redoubled their efforts at self-destructing and that forced Aphrodite and Tlaloc to focus all their attention on that. Although Aphrodite and Tlaloc were smart AIs, they were one of the first ones made so they lacked the processing powers of Cortana.

Without the help of AIs guiding them, they had to proceed through the ship by trial and error. Eventually, after an hour of running through the ship and slaughtering its inhabitants, the control room was finally located. During that time, the other teams also achieved their objectives. The drop pods and Apparitions were secured, as well as the lifeboats, where were conveniently placed together with the drop pods. A dozen purple NAV points also marked where armories were.

Now four Elites in crimson armour stood on guard in front of a large sliding door, decorated with various symbols. They were alert and focused on the job. As soon as the Spartans slipped around the corner, their plasma rifles whined as blue plasma sprayed forth.

"Shit!" cried Kyle as he quickly sprung back behind the wall, his shields almost completely gone from the combined attacks of the four Elites.

"Throw a grenade around the corner," Xiran advised.

A plasma grenade was activated with a _hiss_ and Morgan threw it from around the corner. A deafening explosion took place, but no screams of pain or even surprise. Two seconds of silence passed and an alien growl could be heard.

"They're still alive. Let's get them," suggested Dominique.

Kyle popped around the corner again and saw an Elite with the top of his body blown off. Only a hoof attached to four inches of leg remained. Another Elite was leaned against a wall with blood flowing freely from its mouth. It was still alive, but barely. The other two were alive and well, not to mention extremely pissed off. Xiran and Morgan marched out from behind their cover and took their places beside Kyle. The others stayed where they were to defend their comrades, in case there were attack from behind.

The Elites roared a battle cry and bore down upon the Spartans with their guns blazing.

------------------------------

Klasz Hakamamee, otherwise known as Half-Jaw, prowled through the ship looking for something to kill. It just so happened that a squad of Demons boarded the ship he was on. No more than an hour ago, the Shipmaster, Zita Hinomee, ordered all SpecOps units aboard the _Forbidden Destiny_ to seek out and destroy the Humans. So far, he had encountered none of the Humans, although there were many reports of other SpecOps squads going missing or killed. He silently cursed his bad luck and the incompetence of the other squads. How could they fail to kill a few weak Humans? How could they all lose their lives with inflicting a single casualty? What was wrong with them? Well, at least his squad is up for the challenge.

"Leader, we have reports that there are Demons in the Ejection Room," said one of his subordinates, Laku Loralee. The Ejection Room is where the orbital drop pods were held and launched when needed.

"Are you sure?" replied Hakamamee.

"Yes, leader. The reports come directly from the control room."

"Then we shall go to that place. The crimson blood of our enemies shall be spilt there, and we will return with the knowledge that we have defeated the infamous Demons!" growled Hakamamee. He never missed a chance to say something heroic. His squad roared with approval. "Let's go! Loralee, take point. Zamakamee and Garlanmee, cover our rear."

Loralee quickly moved into the front while Zamakamee and Garlanmee slowed down and fell to the back. They went through corridor after corridor, until they finally arrived in that section of the ship. After all, walking through a three-kilometre ship with multiple levels takes a while. Along the way, they saw a group of nine Unggoy soldiers, running directly towards them, screaming.

"Halt!" barked Loralee. "Tell me what's going on!"

The Unggoy leader looked at Loralee and screamed. "Ah! They're gonna kill us all!"

"I command you to tell me what's happening at once!" roared Loralee.

The Unggoy tried to run away but Hakamamee's squad was faster, stronger, and bigger. They caught up to the Unggoy in a very short amount of time. Loralee picked up the Unggoy in red armour by its throat and snarled.

"Tell me why you are running before I tear out your throat," growled Loralee in a deceptively quite voice.

The small creature flinched and said in a hoarse whisper. "The Humans, Excellency. They killed our leader and most of our squad mates and we-"

The Unggoy never finished his sentence because Loralee tossed him to the ground. The impact was too great for the Unggoy. His eyes glazed over and fell unconscious as soon as he hit the ground.

"Release the others," ordered Hakamamee, and the rest of the Unggoy were released. "Nicely done, Loralee," he added, after the Unggoy were all out of earshot.

"Thank you," replied Loralee.

The hunt resumed shortly after that. They finally arrived at the entrance of the Ejection Room after a few minutes. Numerous dead bodies were slumped against the walls and the floor was slippery with blood. Hakamamee quickly scanned his motion tracker. Nothing moved on the other side, but that didn't mean that there were no hostiles on the other side. The Sangheili SpecOps Squad moved slowly towards the only entrance of the room to avoid setting off the enemies' motion trackers, if there were indeed Demons on the other side.

"Loralee, open the gate," commanded Hakamamee. Loralee moved cautiously towards the holo-panel and swiped his fingers across the hologram. Then he press a few more buttons on the insubstantial control pad. A loud grinding sound was heard as the mechanisms in the gate started working to open the giant grey door. The door slid open a metre, and Loralee cautiously peered inside. A sniper round caught the Sangheili warrior in the middle of his forehead. The high calibre round easily wiped out the Elite's shields and penetrated through his helmet. Brains splattered across the floor.

"Get under cover!" barked Hakamamee as he jumped behind a wall. The order came too late, and two of his more ferocious warriors charged into the room with their plasma rifles blazing. The sharp crack of a Human sniper rifle was heard and the sounds of plasma fire dropped by half. Another shot echoed in the vast room and the plasma fire ceased completely.

"Accursed beasts!" growled Zamakamee as he hit a switch on the holographic controls. The gigantic door to the room hissed shut. "What can we do, leader? If we rush in, we'll be killed by that cowardly sniper before we can fight back."

"We shall guard this door and make sure none of them leave this room. Then we shall call in a squad of Kig-Yar snipers. Sangheili snipers, if they don't have other duties," replied Hakamamee.

"Yes, leader."

"Good, let's call in the snipers. Then we shall see..."

------------------------------

Muzzle flares from two submachine guns and two assault rifles sparked, and a deluge of bullets flew at the two remaining Elites guarding the entrance to the bridge of the _Forbidden Destiny_. The alien guards responded with a sheet of blue-white plasma. The silver shields of the Elites flashed and popped under the combined pressures of the bullets. The Spartans' golden energy shields lasted no longer as the plasma washed it away.

"Fire in the hole!" cried Xiran. He primed one of his frags and threw it at the Elites. Kyle and Morgan backed up around the corner to avoid the blast. Xiran also dove behind the shelter of the wall. One of the Elites tried to kick the grenade away, but when he was no more than a foot away, the frag exploded. The explosion and shrapnel ripped the Elite apart.

Kyle let his shields recharge before peeking around the corner to check for survivors. There were none. The mangled corpse of the Elite was on the ground. One of its arms was missing and its chest plate was charred and blackened. There were also angry scars across its skin and armour. Its partner was slumped against a wall, bleeding from the head. Kyle quickly put two rounds into the Elite's head.

"What was that for?" asked Morgan.

"Just in case," replied Kyle calmly.

"Okay, let's get this door open," suggested Xiran. Then he spoke to Aphrodite. "Can you get the door to the bridge open?"

"Yes I can, but I must warn you that there are _a lot_ of troops inside the bridge. Most of them are heavily armed guards. The one you should worry about however, is the Ship Master. According to what I've found in this ship's databases, an Elite rises up in their ranks according to the number of casualties they inflict. This one is pretty high up the scale."

"What colour is he?"

"Gold. All Ship Masters are either gold or white, Zealots or Ultras respectively."

"Damn. Let me guess, Zealot is the highest rank?"

"Yes. They are equals, if not superiors, to the Prophets' Honour Guards."

"How many Covenant troops are in there?"

"There are ten SpecOps Elites in there, plus twenty-three Grunts. The Ship Master himself is in there also."

"I think we can take that. Aphrodite, blow the door please."

"Working on it."

------------------------------

Four Kig-Yar snipers, accompanied by two Sangheili ones arrived at the Ejection Room shortly after they were summoned. Hakamamee had hoped for more, but beggars can't be choosers.

"Hoki Orahee reporting for duty," saluted the leader of the snipers. "These are my comrades, Koli Haralee," he gestured at his Sangheili partner, "Kaj, Bik, Tok, and Rok." He pointed at each of the Kig-Yar when he said their names.

Hakamamee nodded. "There are a number of Demons hiding in the room beyond this door and at least one of them uses a sniper rifle." He put no particular emphasis on the words "at least", but everyone got the message. "We need you six to go in and neutralize this threat. We don't know how many are in there, so be careful."

Those last three words sounded odd to Hakamamee. He had never told any of his warriors to be careful before. He suddenly realized that his soldiers weren't something to be discarded without a second thought. They weren't depleted plasma rifles or empty plasma pistols to be thrown away. They were alive, and they were his teammates. Each and every one of them was irreplaceable because they were all different. He stopped in mid-thought. No, acknowledging the fact that you love your comrades is a sign of weakness. Then he wondered if you could love your underlings and still be a strong leader.

Haralee's words broke his train of thought. "Leader, we are ready."

Hakamamee looked at their positions. Two Kig-Yar snipers were directly in front of the door, ready to fire at whatever moved on the other side of the door when it opened. The two Sangheili snipers and the remaining two Kig-Yar stood to either side of the two middle snipers.

"Zamakamee, open the door," ordered Hakamamee. The doors hissed as the mechanisms within worked and the doors started to slide open. A ghostly white trail whizzed through the tiny crack where the doors were a second ago. The shields of one of his Sangheili snipers flashed and disappeared. Another shot passed through the air in the exact same spot but hit nothing. The intended target was lying facedown on the ground, gasping as the quick fall knocked the wind out of him. Hakamamee nodded in approval at the warrior's speed and quick assessment of the situation and got under cover himself.

The white trails from the Demon's sniper rifle revealed his location. Four bright purple particle beams were fired at the Demon. Two of the shots missed, but the other two found their marks. The first beam hit the Demon square in the chest and the golden energy shields around him flared, trying to deflect or absorb the attack. The pressure was too great and the energy shields overloaded. The second shot hit the side of the Demon's arm, slicing through his armour. Bright blue fluid leaked out, tinged with the Demon's blood. The Demon didn't even flinch at the damage done to his arm. Instead, he responded by letting loose another two sniper bullets. The first shot missed its mark but the second shot compensated for that by punching through two of his Kig-Yar snipers. The two, Kaj and Rok, dropped their beam rifles and fell to the ground, gasping and screaming.

The remaining four snipers fired another volley of shots at the Demon, but he was already out of sight, hiding behind the SEVs (Sangheili Entry Vehicle). Hakamamee retrieved a beam rifle dropped by one of the downed Kig-Yar. Zamakamee followed his lead and also retrieved a beam rifle. The Jackals, eager to get a kill, rushed into the room to hunt the Demon down. They rushed to the position of where the Demon was seen last, only to be annihilated by a sheet of AR rounds. Their screeches of terror and pain echo throughout the room, as if the room itself was screaming in pain.

The four remaining Sangheili warriors closed in cautiously at the Kig-Yar snipers' intended destination, keeping their eyes open for any signs of traps. As they got closer, everyone discarded their beam rifles and withdrew plasma rifles for the closer work.

"I will lure them out," declared Zamakamee.

Hakamamee looked into his eyes and understood what he was about to do. "In the honour of the Prophets. Good luck."

Zamakamee ran to and dove over the exact spot where the Kig-Yar were killed. Hundreds of tracer rounds flashed through the air, attempting to cut the Sangheili down, but even for Demons, their attack didn't come fast enough. Zamakamee only lost half of his shields in the split second that he was revealed. Four Demons revealed themselves and came out of their hiding places, chasing Zamakamee.

"Attack!" cried Hakamamee as soon as he saw the Demons. His rifle spewed plasma at the Demons' backs and sides. The others followed their leader's example and fired as well. One of the Demons cursed as he threw himself sideways behind the cover of a drop pod. His warriors, eyes alight with religious zeal, followed the Demon to make the kill. As soon as they rounded the corner, they were met with hundreds of tracer rounds. Their shields held and died in the space of half a heartbeat. Their armour lasted no longer. Soon, they were lying on the ground, bleeding from dozens of places.

Hakamamee went to follow them but was suddenly struck from the side. He stumbled but quickly regained his footing. He turned around to see who had hit him and found himself face to face with a Demon. He instincts kicked in and he struck the Demon with all the force he could muster in one blow. The Demon's shields flared and died but it still returned a counterstroke. Hakamamee's own personal shield collapsed under the weight of the blow.

Then Hakamamee struck again, only to be blocked by the Demon, who immediately launched a countermove. This time, Hakamamee was ready. He evaded the hit and lashed out quickly with his fist. The fight continued in this fashion until Hakamamee, fatigued from the fighting, was struck in the chest before he could dodge it. He flew back into one of the drop pods. He willed his body to move but they only responded sluggishly. The Demon walked closer to him.

"This is it," whispered Hakamamee so softly that no one heard him.

The Demon then forced the hatch closed and sealed the Sangheili Commander inside the SEV. He tried to get out, but the controls didn't respond. He felt a lurch as his pod was ejected into outer space. He realized that he was spared a painful death, only to die by the hands of suffocation. The injuries he had obtained during the fight started to claw at his mind, a stinging pain in his chest, and a dull ache in his head. Eventually, he succumbed to his wounds and lapsed into unconsciousness.

------------------------------

"Be ready for anything," announced Xiran just as the doors opened, granting them access to the _Forbidden Destiny_'s control room. The Spartans rushed in two at a time, and the melee began. Total chaos ensued as the Spartans killed wave after wave of Covenant troops. They emptied their weapons into Grunts and Elites alike, and after their magazines clicked dry, they hastily reloaded and continued firing.

The Ship Master, Zita Hinomee, lunged at Kyle with a blazing energy sword and sliced one of his submachine guns in half. The muzzle clattered to the deck followed by the rest of the SMG as Kyle discarded it, while still firing with his remaining weapon. Two heartbeats later, the clip went dry. He started backpeddling and bumped into a wall.

_When it rains, it pours._

Hinomee ran at him at its top speed and slid his sword into the Spartan's chest. Blood splattered against the inside of his visor as he felt his grip on his body loosen. He fell to one knee and coughed again, misting up his visor even more. He tried to move his arms and they obeyed sluggishly. He felt around his armour and found what he was looking for, a plasma grenade. He looked up and saw the Elite raise his deadly plasma sword, ready to finish him off.

_You're coming with me you bastard._

With the last of his strength, he ignited his plasma grenade and lunged at the Elite. Hinomee, taken by surprise, staggered but quickly regained his footing to ward off the attack. Kyle saw his chance and pushed the lit sticky grenade onto the Ship Master's armour. He gasped in fear and outrage as it realized what Kyle had done, but the realization came too late. A blue-white explosion rocked the control room and both the Elite and the Spartan ceased to exist.

------------------------------

Meanwhile, the rest of the Spartans cleaned up the control room. With the Ship Master dead, as well as many of the senior officers, many of the Grunts lost their nerves and tried to flee. Even some of the lower ranked Elites tried to run. None of the Covenant soldiers achieved their goal however, since the Spartans systematically killed them when they tried to flee.

Xiran went into his roster and marked Kyle as MIA. He went through the list sadly. So many of his men had died on their first mission, it was unacceptable. However, he felt that the lives of his Spartans weren't wasted. An entire shipload of Covenant have been neutralized, and six Spartans had been lost. Kyle... Ashley... Thomas... Ian... Frank... Harry...These losses hit the Spartan hard, but he knew he had to go on, for the men and women of Earth...and for the rest of his team.

"Look at this," said Aphrodite suddenly.

"What exactly am I supposed to be looking at?" asked Xiran as Aphrodite scrolled data across a holoscreen.

"This!" she pointed and the scrolling stopped. She then capitalized a set of coordinates to show what she was talking about. Xiran looked at the coordinates as realization slowly sunk in. He had hoped that Aphrodite was wrong, but he knew that in the deepest core of his being, she was right. This only confirmed it.

The Covenant had found Earth and planned to launch as assault on it. They even had a set of instructions to rally with a ship called the _Unyielding Hierophant_. He thought for a moment, and decided on following these instructions, since it hid their presence from the other ships.

------------------------------

It took them a week to rendezvous with the giant command-and-control station, the _Unyielding Hierophant_. They were the last ship out of Slipspace, since they had conflicting emotions of whether to rally with them or not. Each side had a large amount of good points but in the end, Xiran put his foot down. He followed his original plan to rally with the _Unyielding Hierophant_, follow the other Covenant ships with their attack on Earth, and defect in the midst of the battle. Then, while the enemy shoots their ship down, the Human would in turn blow _their _ships up. Before being shot down however, his entire team would get into the SEVs and drop down to some remote location on Earth. Then they're hike their way to the nearest command center and rally with the rest of the Human race.

"Exiting Slipspace in five," announced Aphrodite.

The ship shuddered as it slowed down and neatly sliced a hole in the fabric of space. The large Covenant ship easily slipped through the gap and fell back into normal space...just in time to see a Covenant flagship, which the _Forbidden Destiny_'s sensors identified as the _Ascendant Justice_, crash into the space station known as the _Unyielding Hierophant_.

What happened next came as a complete – but pleasant – surprise to those aboard the _Forbidden Destiny_. Seconds after the _Ascendant Justice_ collided with the _Unyielding Hierophant_, lances of plasma burst from the station's seams like solar flares. Blue-white explosions rocked the station, tearing it apart. The station had endured as much as it could and transformed into a roiling cloud of fire and plasma. The blast spread outwards, making the shields of the ships taking the hit shine silver. Each of those shields lasted about a second each before being engulfed and vaporized by the roiling fireball.

"Holy shit, what the hell happened?" asked an astonished Xiran.

"Scanning," replied Aphrodite. A moment later, her voice returned. "It appears to be a reactor meltdown. Only that could've caused an explosion that big. The other possibility was the detonation of a nuke inside the ship, but the radiation isn't right. Our nuclear warheads emit a slightly different radiation from the reactor radiation of a Covenant reactor."

"I'd imagine that this would be a setback for the Covenant," said Morgan a bit smugly.

"Yeah, losing a whole fleet to-," started Kayleigh, but a transmission interrupted her.

"Ship Master Hinomee, by the order of the council, you are to rally with the rest of my fleet at these coordinates!" said an elderly alien that Xiran guessed was one of the leaders of the Covenant, a race higher up in the hierarchy than the Elites. A Prophet, as the Humans named them.

"Sending reply now," said Aphrodite as she sent a suitable reply.

"May the Forerunners watch over you as you make your journey," he said grandly. He then mumbled something about a sermon before ending the transmission.

"According to the intel I've been getting from the Covenant battle net, that was one of the highest ranked Prophets in the Covenant. He has sent a message to every surviving ship in this area to meet at these coordinates, which happens to be where Earth is," said Aphrodite after the Prophet left.

"Let's go then. Aphrodite, warm up our Slipspace drives and get us to Earth. Everyone else, gear up and be ready for anything."

"Slipspace drives activated, accelerating to the velocity needed to enter Slipspace." There was a fifteen second pause. "Entering Slipspace now. ETA to Earth is six hours."

Xiran opened up a COM channel to address all his Spartans. "Spartans, sleep in two and a half hour shifts. Half of you sleep and the other half keeps guard. ETA to Earth is six hours so we'll leave the last hour available to get ready, is that clear?"

Acknowledgement lights winked.

------------------------------

Five days before the _Forbidden Destiny_ rendezvoused with the _Unyielding Hierophant_, a lone drop pod floated in space as another Covenant cruiser passed its location.

"Leader, a drop pod is floating freely in space, should we recover it?" A lesser Sangheili asked the Ship Master of the ship.

"Send half a dozen of Seraphs to retrieve it."

------------------------------

Five hours later, the Spartans were all up and ready. They then made their way down to the Ejection Room, leaving Aphrodite alone to pilot the ship. Soroush took Tlaloc with him however.

"Exiting Slipspace in three minutes," announced Aphrodite. Three minutes later, the gigantic Covenant ship shuddered as it popped back into normal space.

"Aphrodite, hack into the firing solution on the MAC guns and make sure we don't get hit. Then select an appropriate landing zone for us on Earth. After we're all safely ejected, find a cluster of Covenant ships and self-destruct," ordered Xiran.

"Is this how you treat girls?" replied Aphrodite, slightly offended. "Well, I suppose I'm the only one who can." Tlaloc chose to ignore that comment about Aphrodite being the only one who could.

"Spartans, pick a pod and strap yourselves in. This may get a little rough."

The Spartans each picked their own drop pod and climbed inside. Since they were roughly the same size as Elites, they had no problems fitting in.

"I'll fire you loose in approximately one minute," announced Aphrodite. "Be ready."

The Spartans waited for what seemed to be an eternity until finally, Aphrodite's voice boomed out of their speakers once more. "Pods away."

Xiran felt a sudden jolt as his pod was released and sent towards the surface of Earth.

_**---End Flashback---**_

"After we all landed, we called for a ride and went to various MAC stations to protect them. Some of us went groundside as well. After we found out that you were back, HIGHCOM ordered us back to this station to plan our next move," concluded Xiran. The entire story took an hour to tell, and there were still no sign of the Covenant.

"Intriguing, what happened to the AI Soroush brought down with him?" asked John.

"ONI confiscated it. We objected, but that didn't help much. They went ahead and took it anyway."

Suddenly, the loudspeakers blared and Admiral Hood's voice came through. "All hands, battle stations. Spartans, report to the bridge ASAP, the Covenant have finally arrived."

------------------------------

_**A/N: Wow! Finally, back to the Master Chief and stuff. Whoohoo! Sorry that took so long to write folks, but exams and schoolwork are higher up on my priority list than this story. Well anyway, the point is that it's here, so...hope you enjoyed it! Also, don't forget to review!**_


	19. Chapter 18: Repeated Objectives

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

**_A/N: You'll realize that I never named the station that Ensign Trevor Hourigan was on back in chapter 12, well, it just so happens that the ship he was on was called the _Aristotle_, named after the famous philosopher. It's the _Archimedes_' sister ship. See, he was transferred to it after Ensign Lovell was transferred to the Iroquois. Anyway, yeah...that would explain what the _Aristotle_ is, and it will quiet those who will inevitably insist that the ship was called the _Archimedes_ and not the _Aristotle_, so ha!_**

_**Another A/N: I did some research on African geography and found out that there's actually an island off the coast of Africa called Zanzibar...isn't that amazing?**_

**_Yet Another A/N: Yes, I realize that there is a rather significant time gap between the Klasz Hakamamee in this chapter than the last time I mentioned him. I will not cover what happened to him between then and now (unless I choose to later in the story...which I somehow doubt) but my friend, _OmegaCommander_, might cover that part of Hakamamee's life in his fanfic, _Klasz Hakamamee: Rise of a Recruit**

------------------------------

**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 18**

**Repeated Objectives**

------------------------------

John led his own Spartans, as well as the twenty-seven new Spartans down to the bridge of the Cairo. They arrived at the bridge exactly three minutes and twenty seconds after the end of Admiral Hood's summons.

"Sir! Master Chief Spartan-117 reporting as ordered, sir!" John saluted. The other Spartans followed John's lead and saluted as well.

"At ease, gentlemen." Then Admiral Hood glanced at one of the female Spartans. "And ladies." He hastily added.

Although the MJOLNIR armour suits were designed to be unisex, the women wore theirs differently from the men. It's the little things, like the way they move their hips, or the way they hang their shoulders, that reveal the Spartans' gender when encased in the MJOLNIR armour.

"We have a problem here," said Hood as he nodded his head towards the gigantic viewscreens on the bridge. "As Ensign Hourigan on the _Aristotle_ predicted, approximately two hundred Covenant ships have arrived in our Sol System. They are holding their position at around the orbit of Neptune and they appear to be waiting for something to get into position before attacking. We don't-"

"Sir! Major Slipspace rupture directly behind the Covenant ships!" announced one of the Ensigns. "And the ships are moving towards us!"

John shifted his head slightly to look at the view screen. A giant command station, similar to the _Unyielding Hierophant_, which they destroyed not long ago, appeared directly behind the Covenant fleet.

"Give me a link to all UNSC ships. Hell, give me one to the ex-Covenant ships too." The Humans and ex-Covenant have all decided to use the same radio/video frequency.

"All right, Captains, Commanders, Ship Masters, and whatever the hell I missed. The enemy is moving towards us as we speak and they're heading towards their ultimate prize, Earth. Well, we're not going down without a fight, and pardon me, let me rephrase that. We're not going down _at all_! These Covenant bastards have burnt all of our Outer Colonies and most of our Inner Colonies and they finally found their way to Earth. Well, this is where we make our stand ladies and gentlemen. This is where we pay those bastards back on all the crimes they've committed! This is for the men and women of Harvest, Jericho VII, Reach, and everyone they've killed. It will be this battle that we will win! We shall be the cause for the fall of the Covenant, and nothing they do can stop that! _Am I right_, ladies and gentlemen?"

The bridge of the Cairo erupted into applause and cheers as Admiral Hood concluded his speech. A number of the more enthusiastic members cried out "Sir, yes sir!" Unknown to those aboard the Cairo, although they probably should've expected it, the bridge of almost every cruiser and MAC station applauded.

------------------------------

"Fellow warriors, it's time to crush these Humans who dare oppose the Covenant. These creatures do not _deserve_ to be called primates. We are primates, and we reign supreme! These creatures have meddled with the Covenant long enough and this is where they will die. The Sangheili have joined these creatures and they too, will realize the folly of their actions. They too, will die a painful death like the rest of the incompetent ones who have died before them! They failed us, and they failed as vanguards of the Great Journey. They allowed the Prophet of Regret to be killed. The Prophets of Truth and Mercy also fell because of their incompetence. It's time to quell this heresy once and for all, my brothers, and if the Unggoy, Lekgolo, and Humans want to die with the Sangheili, then so be it!"

The new Brute Chieftain, Cerberus, stood on the control platform on the Covenant flagship, _Strength of Purity_, and broadcasted this speech too all of his ships. Even through the layers of walls, he could hear his own troops cheering for him.

"_Today is going to be a glorious day for all of us,_" he thought. Then he keyed the COM again. "Everyone, get in formation. We strike in thirty seconds." He snapped off the COM and readied his own ship for the ensuing battle.

------------------------------

"Ensign, bring the Cairo back behind the _Hamilton_ and the _York_, but make sure we can still shoot at the enemy. We have important cargo on this station and we don't want to be shot at." He glanced meaningfully at the Spartans.

John felt the MAC gun's thrusters kick in and the _Cairo_ started to move slowly. Meanwhile, on the tactical display on one of the larger viewscreens, a fleet of Human cruisers were approaching the Covenant warships.

"This is Fleet Admiral Harper, permission to engage the enemy?" said Harper over the COM. He had always been one to get excited.

"Stand down, Admiral, and return to your post. Do not engage until everyone is ready, I repeat, _do not_ engage," ordered Hood.

There was a pause before the reluctant "Yes, Admiral," came through the speakers. Admiral Harper's cluster of ships slowly retreated. Then, the Arbiter's voice came through the speakers and his picture appeared on a viewscreen.

"Admiral, the Covenant are here. We should strike now, before they're ready. All of the Sangheili ships are ready to engage at any time, and your ships look about the same. We should take them by surprise, and launch the first attack."

Admiral Hood glanced at the TAC display. Although the Covenant ships were moving towards them, most of the ships were still slowing down or speeding up, trying to get into position.

"You're right. Tell your warriors to proceed with the attack, and tell them to stick with the plan," said the Admiral shortly. The Arbiter clicked his mandibles and nodded, then killed the COM link. Hood then opened a link to all of the UNSC cruisers around Earth. "Form up and remember the plan."

The commanding officers aboard those ships all knew what to do. They would form themselves into three lines. The first line fires their MAC guns at the Covenant ships to kill their shields. Then the ex-Covenant ships would melt their ships with plasma torpedoes. Then the second line would fire their MAC guns at any surviving targets while the first wave of UNSC cruisers and the ex-Covenant ships recharge their weapons. Then the third line would clean up after the first and second waves. By then, the first groups' weapons would be recharged and they will fire. Then they will repeat that until there was nothing left of the enemy.

There was only one problem. The enemy outnumbered them by at least fifty ships, and even with the ex-Covenant and MAC guns helping them, it would be a tough fight.

"Sir, the enemy have launched their first salvo of plasma torpedoes. ETA seventy seconds," one of the ensigns said.

"Return the favour," said Hood. The whole station shuddered as a super dense ball of matter was fired from the platform at nearly the speed of light. Other MAC stations and ships followed the _Cairo_'s lead and fired. "Second line! Fire on my mark!" barked Hood into the COM.

He waited ten seconds for all of the ships in the first row to get out of the way. "Fire!" he cried.

Another row of magnetically accelerated projectiles shots at the cluster of Covenant ships, effectively destroying the front row of Covenant ships. The Humans paid a price for the destruction. While the MAC projectiles were still en route, the Covenant launched their own attack. Plasma torpedoes burnt brilliant paths in the vast distances between the two fleets and struck down the unlucky ships that they targeted.

"Sir! The Covenant have launched a multiple waves of Phantoms and drop pods!" cried the same ensign, his voice squeaking in panic and his eyes were bulging out of his head.

"Calm down, crewman. Where are they headed?" asked Admiral Hood, his voice reassuring.

The frightened ensign took a few deep breaths before continuing. "They're all heading towards the East African Protectorate, sir. A large number of them have landed in Old and New Mombassa. Others have also landed in Nairobi, New Garissa, and New Lodwar. A fleet of Phantoms are also en route to what appear to be Zanzibar Island, the location of Wind Power Station 7. Wind Power Station 6 on Mafia Island also detects Phantoms approaching them using their long range radars. Our MAC generators on Madagascar and the ones in Egypt are also reporting contact. The Marines have been alerted and are on the defence of all of these sites as we speak."

"Master Chief, split your team to cover all of these areas, and then get down there in Pelicans so you can help the Marines. The Elites will be called to assist you as well," ordered Admiral Hood.

"Sir!" the Master Chief saluted. "Yes, sir!"

"Xiran, pick seven of your best leaders, split them apart, and have them each leader a squad of four, including themselves." Then he turned to Will. "Will, you'll be one of those seven. Don't let me down. Kelly, Linda, Fred, you're with me."

The Spartans quickly arranged themselves into groups and each group took a point to guard. "Let's saddle up, Spartans. It's time to finish this fight," said John. "Arm yourselves and meet me in Docking Bay C-03 in five minutes.

------------------------------

The Arbiter gripped his carbine tightly, eagerly anticipating the upcoming battle. Despite the fact that many wanted the Arbiter to assume command over the entire ex-Covenant fleet, the Arbiter left that position to one of the best Sangheili Ship Masters in the fleet, Ajith Velumee. Although the Arbiter didn't personally know the Ship Master, the Arbiter knew him by reputation. Velumee's kill count with his ship, the _Atheous Heretic_, is one of the highest in Covenant fleet.

"Arbiter, the Humans are requesting assistance groundside. Should we help them?" asked one of the Arbiter's most trusted comrades, Klasz Hakamamee.

"Yes, we shall. Get sixteen squads of your best SpecOps warriors. We shall send two squads down to each location the Humans require assistance at. I shall personally lead one of them, and so will you, Hakamamee."

"The end is near, is it not, my friend?" asked Hakamamee, his customary politeness forgotten. At that moment, the two warriors spoke to each other as two friends, not as superior and subject.

"Let's hope so, Hakamamee...and let us hope that we will emerge victorious from this war," replied the Arbiter softly, staring into the distance; into the stars beyond the plasma shield blocking the docking bay gates.

------------------------------

Major Lucas Kerrigan stood on the sea wall on Zanzibar Island and looked through his binoculars, scanning the horizon for any signs of the Covenant. HIGHCOM advised them that the Covenant were approaching them, but after half an hour of nervous waiting, the Sergeant started to wonder if anything happened to them, and if not, then what was taking the Covenant so damn long? His men were all nervous to some degree but most of them, being veterans, knew how to handle stress. The new guys did the best they could and thankfully, none of them collapsed until the pressure. They did however, tell enough off colour jokes to last the Sergeant a lifetime.

He decided to take this time to inspect his own weapons. He was in the middle of cleaning his battle rifle when Lieutenant Katherine Wilson came running up to him. "Sir!" she saluted.

By the look on her face, he knew that something was happening. Something bad...

"What is it Lieutenant?" he asked.

"Banshees and Phantoms from the east, sir! The Covenant have finally come!"

Kerrigan's heart skipped a beat but he quickly squelched the feeling of panic. "About damn time too. All right Lieutenant, get the troops ready for combat, and get at least two people watching the long range radar at all times. We don't want anyone sneaking up on us."

"Yes, sir!" Wilson saluted. She turned on the COM and ordered the marines atop the seawall to get ready.

"Let's see what they're throwing at us," suggested Kerrigan. He quickly finished cleaning his rifle and jogged to the seawall with Wilson trailing slightly behind him.

------------------------------

The Master Chief stood in his Pelican with one hand on an overhanging handle as it descended upon his destination. Around him, Fred, Kelly, Linda, and half a dozen marines sat, mentally preparing themselves for combat. Around their Pelican, Longsword interceptor fighters and Seraphs engaged each other in hundreds of individual dogfights.

"Omega One to Firefox Three, you got two Seraphs coming at you from the west," said one of their Longsword escorts over the COM. The pilot, Flight Officer Harold Lee, decided to set the COM on broadcast, so that the crew can listen in on their conversations. In case something went wrong, those aboard Firefox Three could get out before things went _really_ wrong.

"Roger that," replied Lee. A Seraph fired a plasma torpedo at the Pelican. Lee continued on course and at the last possible second, he veered to the left. The Master Chief stumbled and felt a wave of heat as a plasma torpedo missed the Pelican. On the starboard side of the ship, two missiles were fired from a Longsword and it knocked the Seraph out of the sky.

"We're almost there! Hang on!" said Lee over the COM. He accelerated the Pelican as fast as he could without doing physical injury to himself. As he approached their destination, he opened the back hatch and warned the marines and Spartans about their LZ.

"The LZ is hot! Be ready to engage as soon as you land!" suggested Lee as the Pelican lowered itself to the ground. "Touchdown! Go get 'em!"

The Master Chief jumped out and started firing at the enemy from the air. By the time he landed, his BR clip was half gone, and the enemy was short three Jackals. The marines landed behind them and was sniping the enemy from behind the Spartans with their battle rifles. Although the BRs weren't as effective in long range firefights as the S2 AM sniper rifles, they were easier to use and is a better all-around weapon.

Shortly after they landed, five additional Pelicans landed on an area of the beach that they've already conquered. These reinforcements boosted their strength by sixty marines.

The Master Chief fired the remained rounds and paused to reload. He heard a loud _crack_ to his left and almost dropped the fresh clip. He glanced over and saw Linda with her sniper rifle. Three more shots rang out from Linda's sniper rifle and three Brutes fell under Linda's skills. She reloaded and fired another quartet of armour piercing rounds.

The Master Chief finished reloading his BR and returned to killing the Covenant forces – one trooper at a time.

------------------------------

The other two Spartans, Kelly and Fred, were closer up to the enemy. They were the two best close range fighters out of all the Spartans, and naturally, they played to their strengths. The two Spartans had the newest issue of assault rifles, the MA7B, and were wreaking havoc with them. Even the shielded Jackals couldn't stand up to the weapons.

A lone Brute approached Fred from the right, but he didn't notice as he was being hard pressed by four Jackals. Consequently, he also didn't notice as the Brute suddenly toppled over, clutching its shoulder. The downed Brute was quickly eliminated by the marines, who were all eager to score a kill.

Plasma bolts flew at Fred, who couldn't score a hit on the Jackals due to their overlapping shields. Since he couldn't score a hit from that range, he decided to do what the Jackals expected the least. He moved closer to them, letting his armour take hits from the plasma bolts as he ran towards them. A low-pitched siren went off in his helmet to signify that his shields were almost out. Fred ignored it and kept running. When he got in range, he slammed the butt of his rifle into one of the energy shields. The Jackal's arm shattered from the blow. The alien dropped his shield out of position as it doubled over with pain, which gave Fred the chance he needed. He stuck the nose of his MA7B through the little firing notch of the injured Jackal and fired at the other three. Dark purple blood splattered on the insides of their shields as they fell to the ground, dead.

He reloaded his nearly spent clip, slapped a new one in its place, and continued the assault.

------------------------------

"Fire!" cried Major Kerrigan and the rocket jockeys fired two volleys of heat-seeking rockets, effectively blowing two dozen Banshees out of the sky.

"Artillery! Lock and load! Fire your rounds at the Phantoms on my mark!" ordered Wilson. The four M93 Gauss Cannons each clicked in response.

The M93 was a larger version of the M68s mounted on the back of Warthogs, which were, in turn, a much smaller version of the orbital MAC guns. The M93s were especially made to take out aerial targets such as Banshees and Phantoms. It has even been known to take down Seraphs.

"Ready to fire, ma'am!" cried one of the artillery operators.

Lieutenant Wilson waited for the Phantoms to get closer, to ensure that the cannons didn't miss. Without an AI to aim the weapon or advanced computers to calculate trajectory, the Gauss Cannons were much more prone to missing than their orbital counterparts. Five hundred metres...four hundred...three hundred...two hundred...

"Fire!" cried the Lieutenant. Four reports echoed through the air as the M93s fired their superdense rounds at the Phantoms. One of the shots was off trajectory and missed but the other three hit their marks. One ship took a round to the nose of the ship punctured through the thick armour. The ship listed to port as the round knocked it off course, then exploded as it hit something vital. The ship crashed into the water and then, nothing. The Human snipers trained their guns to the crash site to take care of anyone who surfaced. No one did.

The other two rounds hit the Phantoms, but they didn't hit anything critical. The first ship lost two plasma cannons and the second lost only one.

"Rocket jockeys! Fire!" ordered Kerrigan. Sixteen explosive rockets struck the already crippled Phantoms and knocked one of them out. The other took several severe hits and crash landed on the beach. An emergency hatch opened and ten Jackals crawled out, followed by two Brutes.

"Turrets! Take them out!" barked the officer in charge of them, Lieutenant Justin Black. Thirty calibre rounds spewed out from the seawall and slaughtered the Jackals. Their shields were normally very effective against projectiles, but the thirty calibre bullets were too powerful. After deflecting the first ten rounds, their shields had shifted positions and failed to cover their entire body. Then they died as their exposed parts were hit.

"Three down, a million more to go..." whispered Kerrigan as he watched the rest of the Phantoms approach them, escorted by Banshees.

------------------------------

"Sir! I don't know how much longer our defences could hold! The enemy just keeps on coming!" yelled Private André Atreides over the rapid fire of his M41 LAAG. His driver, Sergeant Laurence DuGalle, slammed on the brakes, narrowly avoiding a fuel rod blast fired from a Banshee.

"Take that thing out, will ya?" asked DuGalle. Atreides pivoted his chaingun turret and fired a sustained burst into the Banshee. It exploded in a ball of flame and fell out of the sky. "Thanks."

"Like I was saying, we can't do this for much longer! The enemy has us surrounded and we don't have enough troops to fend them all off!" yelled Atreides.

Twelve hours ago, his CO told him and his fellow squadmates to pack up their things because they were heading over to the great pyramids of Egypt, which is where the MAC generators are located. He had asked why, and he got an unpleasant response. They thought the Covenant would go after them to knock out the MAC guns, which proved to be correct. Seven hours later, he arrived at the generators with his squad. Lots of troops were already assembled there, ready to fight, and defences were all set up. It had looked impenetrable, but now he wasn't so sure. No more than thirty minutes after he arrived, the Covenant started their attack. Hundreds of Ghosts, Banshees, Spectres, and Wraiths pounded them as they tried to respond to the sudden attack. An hour into the battle, they abandoned their outer fortifications to fort up the inner ones.

Despite the thousands slaughtered on that battlefield, the Covenant kept attacking and the Humans gave up ground grudgingly, step by step. Now, five hours into the battle, the Covenant were no more than ten kilometres away from their prize, the MAC generators.

"Ghost at twelve 'o clock!" cried DuGalle, once again ignoring Atreides' statement. Atreides fired another burst from his chaingun. A round penetrated the fuel tank and the Ghost exploded, killing the driver instantly.

"As I was say-" yelled Atreides again but DuGalle cut him off.

"Yes, I heard you the first time and here's what we're gonna do about it. One, we're gonna not complain, and two, we're gonna do our duty," he yelled over the sounds of battle from all around them. Then he braked so hard that Atreides was almost thrown from the back of the Warthog.

"What the hell was that for?" asked Atreides. A deafening explosion rattled his bones and threw him to the ground. DuGalle was also thrown free from the Hog as it flipped end over end. Atreides glanced up and saw a crater of molten glass right in front of where their Warthog was. "Holy shit, thanks Sarge."

DuGalle grunted and whipped a trickle of blood away from his mouth. He checked his assault rifle, which was slung onto back when he fell out, to make sure it still fired. "Let's get going," said DuGalle hoarsely.

"Yes, sir!" said Atreides automatically. "Where to?"

"Let's head back to base. We're sitting ducks out here without our Hog," replied DuGalle. He started jogging back in the direction of their base when Atreides cried out.

"Sir! We've got company!"

DuGalle turned around and found himself facing a squad of six Jackals. He muttered a curse and opened fire with his assault rifle. This proved to be ineffective as the Jackals were in had their shields in place, blocking every shot DuGalle made. The aliens counterattacked and plasma bolts cut through the air. DuGalle instinctively ducked and most of the shots hit nothing. A single blast struck him in the arm and he felt his fatigues fuse with his flesh. He let out a scream of pain and dropped in assault rifle in surprise.

Then he gasped in horror at what he just did. He had thrown away one of his only weapons in a _combat zone_. He struggled to draw his sidearm but his injured arm refused to respond. When he finally got it out of its holster, he heard Atreides yell a warning.

"Fire in the hole!" cried Atreides as he primed a frag grenade and threw it at the Jackals. The aliens, confident that they could withstand any Human attack with their overlapping shields, didn't respond fast enough. The explosive killed two of their squad and injured another. The surviving Jackals hissed in anger and advanced on Atreides with murder in their hearts.

"Uh oh..." muttered Atreides as he back up, firing as he did. The bullets bounced off their near impervious energy shields and did no damage. Then his body betrayed him. He tripped and his weapon flew out of his hands. The Jackals, sensing weakness, immediately started firing at the marine.

In their murderous rage, the Jackals completely forgot about DuGalle. "Now it's my turn," he muttered as he clicked the safety off his pistol. He clicked the trigger and pain lanced up his arm. The shot also went wide. He struggled to fire another and this time his aim was true. The Jackal fell to the ground, bleeding from its throat.

Atreides was already unconscious from the burns inflicted upon him. The two Jackals turned around and faced DuGalle. He tried to fire another shot but the pain was too much. A plasma bolt struck him in the chest and he passed out from the pain.

------------------------------

The Master Chief watched from afar as the two Marines tried to fight the Jackals. After taking out four of them, the two eventually fell under the onslaught of the aliens.

"Linda, those two may still be alive and it might be possible to save them," he pointed at where the fallen marines were. The Jackals they were fighting were approaching their bodies.

Linda nodded and carefully sighted her targets. A single bullet spat out of her sniper rifle. The bullet put a hole through the first Jackal's throat and ricocheted off the inside of its shield to snipe the second in the head. A superb shot, even for Linda. The Master Chief looked at Linda with awe for a split second, then returned to his normal combat composure. He opened a secure COM channel to Kelly and Fred.

"Kelly, Fred! I want those two bodies retrieved before the Covenant get to them," barked the Master Chief.

Two acknowledgement lights winked on and the two Spartans sprinted towards the fallen marines. Kelly arrived a full five seconds before Fred and lifted both bodies and slung them over her shoulders. Fred caught up with her a few seconds later and covered her while she brought the two marines back.

The Master Chief returned to the fight and quickly put down two Brutes and a Jackal. "We're almost there!" said the Master Chief over the team frequency. The Marines all cheered at this. Then he established a link to the CO in charge of the defence of the Pyramid Generators.

"Defence Team Alpha, this is Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117. Do you copy? Over," said the Chief.

A deep voice came from the other side. "Yes, Chief. I read you loud and clear. Where are you? The brass told me you were coming, but didn't say when."

"We are currently about two klicks south of your position. Try to refrain from firing at anything that moves. Tell you soldiers to make sure that it's the enemy they've targeted before firing."

"Roger that, I'll see what I can do,"

"Good. Spartan-117 out."

-----------------------------

André Atreides woke up to the face of an old friend – and the burning pain of plasma burns all over his body. He tried to scream but it came out as an unsatisfying groan. He achieved his goal however, and grabbed the attention of his friend, who was serving as a field medic in the UNSC. The medic took some needles and carefully inserted them into his arm. A few minutes later, he could barely feel the pain anymore.

"Feeling better, André?" asked the medic.

"Yeah, thanks to whatever you just put into me," replied André, smiling.

"The plasma burns on your body aren't too serious and are only classified as second degree burns. You're one of the lucky ones because most people have third degree burns. I've reported this to a superior and you are ordered to report to the command structure ASAP," she recited. The she relaxed and added a few words of her own. "Be sure not to exert yourself too much. Here's some extra medication you can take to ease the pain," said the medic. She pushed a bundle containing syringes and other medications into his arms. "Be sure to inject yourself every twenty-four hours. If possible, come back here and let me do it, and if you ever run out, I'll give you more."

"Yes, ma'am," replied André in the manner of a schoolboy being scolded. Both of them laughed at his mannerism. "Now don't worry about me. I'm a survivor. Anyway, I'll seeya around Mel."

Melissa Ellis was one of his childhood friends and was particular close to him. No one understood him better than her. When his father died in the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV, he went nearly mad with grief. He would have stayed a recluse had Mel not been there for him, saying all the right words at the right time. Eventually, his grief subsided and he returned to his life. A year later, he and Mel both joined the Marine Corps together. He as a soldier, and she as a medic. In the five years they've been in the army, they've saved each other numerous times from the enemy. They shared the bond only forged between people who saved each other's lives many times.

"You'd better get going before your CO sends someone down here to check on you," Melissa suggested.

Just then, another two patients stirred and she rushed to tend to them. André watched for a few seconds before he turned and walked out of the tent. The first place he went to was the munitions bunker, where he equipped himself with an assault rifle and a bandolier of grenades. He also holstered a standard M6C pistol as his sidearm.

Satisfied that he would be able to protect himself, he made over to the command centre close to the Egyptian Pyramids, their HQ. The entrance to the building was guarded by a quartet of soldiers.

"Private André Atreides reporting as ordered!" he saluted.

"Ah yes, we were told that you would come. Come right this way," one of the soldiers led him into the HQ. He was led into a cramped waiting room and was left there. A minute later, a Sergeant by the name of Avery Johnson came to greet him.

"Sir!" Atreides saluted.

"At ease, son," Johnson replied. "So I understand that your former CO was mortally injured in the last battle."

"Yes, sir." He actually didn't know that Sergeant DuGalle had been mortally wounded. The news hit him hard but he put a leash on his emotions and didn't let it show.

"Well, you've been transferred to my squad and I expect a lot of things from you. You think you're up for it?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Good, then make your way to the south perimeter of our base. The rest of your squad will already be there. Move it! Double time!"

Private André Atreides sprinted to where his CO ordered him to go. Adrenaline coursed through his veins as his thought drifted towards killing Covenant soldiers...

------------------------------

_**A/N: What the hell was the Melissa-André thing all about? Romance? Or just friendly soldier love? I dunno...like, I actually don't know. I might put it either way...or I might choose a completely different path for them. What about Kerrigan and Wilson? Romance? Doubt that...but that's okay. They're gonna be somewhat important from now on. They won't be reaching the same calibre as the Master Chief and the Spartans, but they will be sticking around...until I decide to kill them off...if I decide to kill them off...maybe I'm giving away too many hints here, so I'll shut up now. Anyway, REVIEW!**_

**_Another A/N: Don't make your reviews something like "EW! ROMANCE! OMG! WHAT THE HELL! I THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD STORY! NOT SOME FLUFFY HALO SHIT!" because...that would be lame. Besides, romance has always been a major factor in almost every story...so...yeah. Anyway, a word to tell you now. There will be _NO_ fluff or sex at all, which is probably for the best. Anyway, now that you're done reading my rants...REVIEW!_**


	20. Chapter 19: Unforeseen Complications

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

_**A/N: Well, if you go back to the prologue, at the top it says that most chapters will be from 1500-4000 words long...well, as of now (well, chapter 13 actually), I will write chapters no shorter than 4000 words. The max is yet to be determined, but most chapters are probably going to be from 4000-6000 words long. Thanks!**_

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**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 19**

**Unforeseen Complications**

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_Awaken my children, and embrace the glory that is your birthright. Conquer them all in my name, and the universe shall be yours. Feast on their flesh and blood, their screams of pain, and their hopes and dreams for all of eternity..._

------------------------------

Hundreds of light-years away, the hidden Flood workers received the Gravemind's telepathic call and scuttled out from their hiding spot. Their first target was the city of Alexandria. As they approached, the citizens cried out in alarm and tried to flee but in the ensuing chaos, thousands were infected before they could escape. Local police officers and marines from the UNSC tried to stop the infection, but by the time they started their rescue mission, half the population was either dead or infected. Gunfire filled the city as the remaining Humans forted up, but the Flood eventually smashed through their defences by the sheer amount of their soldiers. Screams echoed throughout the city until, two hours after the attack, the entire city was either dead, fled, under the control of the Gravemind.

------------------------------

Yet another hundred light-years away, the Executive Prophet of Wisdom brooded on the homeworld of the Prophets. All three of his second in commands were dead. One, the Prophet of Regret, was assassinated by the Humans and the other two fell to the relentless attacks of the Flood. Their successors were already being trained, but for now, the decisions normally reserved for the High Prophets was brought to the Executive Prophet. The position of Executive Prophet had almost no power, as he was more of a figurehead than an actual leader, but now with the High Prophets dead, the Covenant turned their heads towards the Executive Prophet.

He shook his head and guided his hovering throne towards a massive holoscreen in the huge throne room. A number of Minor Prophets, as well as the 'High Prophets in training', had gathered here for a meeting, but the Executive Prophet had lost interest long ago. He ordered the others to proceed with the meeting without him and they reluctantly obeyed. They were not used to handling such pressures, not used to doing the jobs usually reserved for the High Prophets.

Wisdom read over the reports on the events that happened over the last few weeks. The first Sacred Ring was destroyed by a Demon after it wiped out an entire Covenant armada that got in his way. Although he was saddened by this catastrophic event, he put aside his grief and moved on, telling the High Prophet of Truth to continue the search for other Sacred Rings.

Then Truth's fellow High Prophet, Regret, did something so foolish that it shocked them all. He took only four ships and embarked on a journey to find the location of a temple built by the Forerunners long ago. He did not wait for the rest of his fleet to prepare, and his haste had jeopardized their Grand Design. His fleet fled before the Humans completely destroyed it. In Regret's carelessness, he accidentally revealed the location of the second Sacred Ring to the very Human that destroyed the first one, the Demon.

He ran down the long article and tried to absorb everything the article told him. So much has been lost in the last week. All three Hierarchs had been killed and the second Sacred Ring had been sealed off to him due to Flood activity. The Holy City of High Charity had also been lost in the skirmish. The only good news he had gotten in all of this is the fact that they've found the Human homeworld, Earth.

He looked back again at the section on the desertion of the Sangheili, Unggoy, and Lekgolo, and thought of what he would've done differently. It had been their intent to replaces the Sangheili with the Jiralhanae ever since the Jiralhanae species had been brought into the Covenant, but the Prophet High Council kept it a secret. The High Prophets and himself had planned to set an impossibly high goal for the Sangheili and let them fail. Then they would shame the disgraced race so much that they'd accept their punishment because their pride demanded it, and then, slowly erase them from the Covenant forever.

Things didn't go according to plan however. After the assassination of the Prophet of Regret, Truth ordered the Arbiter to retrieve the Sacred Icon and also commanded Tartarus to take the Icon from him when his quest was finished. The order to end the Arbiter's life was also sent. The murder of the Arbiter did not go as planned however, and the Sangheili warrior survived. The assassinations of the Councillors did not succeed either, since after only three of them were killed, they found out about the traitorous plot and gathered their followers. Then all hell broke loose. Now the Covenant was split evenly down the middle, with fully half of their forces on the other side, things looked very bad indeed.

The High Prophets' commands reached Khalhu, the homeworld of the Covenant, almost as soon as they said it, but Wisdom had stopped the command before it was passed on to the population of Khalhu. The few who knew of Truth's order to commit mass genocide upon the Unggoy, Sangheili, and the Lekgolo were quietly relieved of their lives.

No, he had a different plan for the three foolish races. He would pit them against their own brethren, creating an efficient way of getting rid of the troublesome Sangheili race forever.

------------------------------

"I think that's the last of them, sir," said Lieutenant Wilson, her hair bedraggled from the last six hours of fighting. Her helmet had several plasma burns decorating its surface and there was an angry scar on her cheek where a carbine beam grazed her. Hundreds of broken Phantoms littered the waters around them, leaking coolant and fuel into the ocean. Bodies were strewn upon the beach, painting the once beautiful beach of Zanzibar purple and black. The walls itself was coloured red as the Humans were shot by the Covenant forces. Only two of the powerful M93 Gauss Cannons remained operational; one of them took a direct hit from a Phantom's plasma blast and the other simply overheated, requiring several hours to replace the melted components.

The sun was setting already and both sides took heavy casualties. Over a thousand Covenant troops and ships have been downed at the cost of nearly three hundred of their soldiers. If it weren't for the Spartans' timely arrival, they would all be dead by now.

Major Kerrigan nodded back. "When are those supply Pelicans gonna get here? We're almost out of rockets for the rocket jockeys. Sniper and artillery ammunition's running low too. If they attack again, we're cooked."

"Then let's hope they don't attack again before the supplies arrive," said the Lieutenant.

"Hope isn't going to get us through this war, firepower is," replied Kerrigan briskly. "Post four squads of marines on night duty, as well as two of the Spartans. You're in charge here for the next four hours. Wake me up when you go to sleep."

"Yes, sir!" Lieutenant Wilson gave her CO a salute. She keyed the COM to four squads of marines to keep guard during the night. She then told another four squads to be ready to take over once the four hours is up.

As the night went on, the Humans rested, blissfully unaware of the danger that would strike them during the night.

------------------------------

"So what's the status of the Covenant landing zones? How much have they taken, sir?" asked the Master Chief. The man in charge of the defence of the Pyramid Generators, Lieutenant General Kyle Banks, looked through some of the battle reports.

"We lost New Lodwar, New Garissa, and Nairobi. Those three cities were taken by the Covenant before your Spartans even got there. Zanzibar Island is still under our control, although we have lost many soldiers trying to defend the place. Mafia Island no longer exists, since the Covenant have decided to incinerate the island with a few of their plasma bombs." He took a deep breath and continued. "In conclusion, we still control Old and New Mombassa, Zanzibar Island, the Madagascar Generators, and here."

"What of the Spartans there were sent to those locations? Any word from them?" Then he added. "Sir?"

He averted his eyes. "We received a distress signal from New Lodwar but by the time our forces got down there, there were no Humans left to rescue. We can only assume that the Spartans that were sent there are either missing or killed." Banks swallowed before continuing. "And the Spartans that were sent to Nairobi were shot out of the sky as close as we can determine."

"Have you combed the ground? They might've jumped..."

"No one can survive a jump without a parachute from that high up." General Banks shook his head.

"Permission to speak, sir?" interrupted Fred.

"Certainly, go ahead."

"Back on Reach, when the Covenant first invaded, every single Spartan with the exception of three had to jump out of a partially destroyed Pelican without parachutes. There were only four KIA's." He winced as he said the word 'only'.

"Well, we can always hope." General Banks didn't look convinced.

------------------------------

Supreme Commander Rhombr Mahuee strode confidently down the Grand Palace of the Prophets. Earlier that day, the Executive Prophet himself had wished to speak with Mahuee about an important military matter. Now, the Supreme Commander of the Fleet of _Cleansing Consecration_ made his way to the Grand Prophet of Wisdom's personal studies. Every other creature in the building made way for the Supreme Commander, whether he was a Prophet or Sangheili. He knocked on the great doors of the chambers and waited.

"Come in," said a low voice, which belonged to the Prophet of Wisdom. "And shut the door behind you. We have much to discuss."

Curious, Mahuee walked in and quietly closed the door behind him. The room was dimly lit, and the only light came from a single dimly lit lantern in the middle of the room. Without saying anything, Wisdom pointed towards a large chair along the wall. Taking the hint, Mahuee hurried to the seat and sat down.

"Do you know why I've summoned you here tonight?"

"No, Wise One, I do not," Mahuee replied.

"Did you know that the Covenant is on the verge of falling apart? That heresy is threatening to rend us asunder, even now?"

Mahuee gasped. "Who is this heretic that defies the Great Journey? What race is he of?"

"He is of your race, Supreme Commander. He was once an honoured soldier, just like you are now, but somehow on the first Sacred Ring, heresy led him astray. He was scheduled to be executed, but the High Prophets decided to spare him, to give him a second chance. Now look what that mistake cost them! The three are no longer among the living, but this vile heretic is! Even now, he is aiding the enemy and causing havoc upon us with our own technology, using the gifts from the Forerunners to rip us apart. Do you have any clues as to who he is yet, Supreme Commander?"

"I dare not answer, Wise One. It cannot be."

"But it is, do you recognize this Sangheili?" Wisdom showed Mahuee a picture. "This is the face of the heretic leader, taken by one of our spies to confirm his identity. Do you still have any doubt?"

Mahuee sadly shook his head. "No, Wise One. But how can an Arbiter stray so far from the true faith? How can the Arbiter, out of all everyone, choose to betray us?"

"The Humans have many demonic weapons, Commander. The Demons themselves are testimony to that. This may be something new. Something that imperils the Great Journey more than even the Demons."

"How can I help get rid of this monstrosity?"

"You can start now, by rallying all of the remaining Sangheili controlled vessels and fly towards the final Human stronghold, Earth, where the heretics and the Humans are fighting side by side against your Jiralhanae brethren."

Mahuee resisted the impulse to spit. "Why all remaining Sangheili forces? Why do the Jiralhanae ships stay here while we attack?"

"There no telling what the Humans will do and we must be ever vigilant. The Sangheili will attack, and the Jiralhanae will defend. It's perfect." The Prophet of Wisdom moved closer to Mahuee. "Enough talk. I want your forced prepared within five days. In five days, your fleet shall move towards Earth and demolish all that stand in your way, but do not destroy the planet. All the clues indicate that one of the greatest Forerunner Temples ever created lies on that filthy planet."

"My faith is strong, I will not fail."

------------------------------

"Chief, I want you and your squad to go on the offensive now, while my marines stay defensive. We have recently received a distress call from Alexandria, and we sent in a company of marines to deal with the situation there...but we haven't heard from them for over six hours, when they had specific orders to report every two hours. I want you to go and check out what's going on. You have approximately a hundred marines to back you up, and you'll have tactical command of this operation," said General Banks. "You four up to it?"

"Sir, yes sir!" said the Master Chief.

"Good, then get going. I have twelve Pelicans ready to transport you guys down there; they're on landing pads A7 to A18, fully prepped and ready to launch in ten minutes. They've already been given the order to carry you to your destination. The marines should be there already as well."

"Sir!" the four Spartans saluted. General Banks returned the salute.

"Good luck, and be careful."

The four Spartans walked out of the General's office and double timed it to the Pelicans. When they got there, they were greeted with a familiar – and comforting – face.

"So we meet again, eh Chief?" said Sergeant Johnson, his face splitting into a wide grin. The Master Chief simply nodded. "Well, come aboard, there's still room for one more here. We've decided to split you guys up so if one of us gets blown outta the sky, the other three Spartans would still make it."

The four Spartans exchanged glances and without a word, boarded separate Pelicans.

"Why are they behaving so strangely? I mean, they didn't even talk," whispered one of the marines, which the Master Chief's HUD identified as Private André Atreides.

"Listen son, you'd be like that too if you kicked as much Covenant ass as they have," said Sergeant Johnson, leaping to the Spartans' defence. The Master Chief nodded, still not saying anything. As he turned away from the young marine and Sergeant Johnson, he could've sworn that the Sergeant gave him a wink.

Two hours later, the twelve Pelicans approached their landing zone just out side the city. As the Pelicans touched down, the Master Chief gave out orders to everyone on this mission.

"ETA to destination is two minutes, Chief," said one of the pilots.

The Master Chief opened a secure COM channel to the marines once again. "Once we land, be ready for anything."

------------------------------

_A food source has come...devour them, my children._

-----------------------------

"Squads A to D, scout the western part of the city. E to H, you take the north part. I to L, take the southern side. Us four Spartans will do the eastern side of Alexandria," said the Master Chief, reminding each squad of what they were supposed to do.

"You heard the man, move it!" barked Sergeant Johnson. The marines scattered into their individual squads and moved out. "Good luck, Chief."

"You too, Sergeant." He turned to his Spartans. "Kelly, take point. Linda, take out six. Fred, watch the left. I got the right. Our area of the city is here." He highlighted the entire eastern sector of the city. "Let's go."

They made their way through the streets and saw nothing but blood and gore, although the lack of bodies was disturbing. Something in John's gut told him something was wrong...and his gut has almost never been wrong.

"Something's not right here, where are all the bodies?" commented Fred.

"I don't know, keep your eyes sharp and keep-" replied John but was cut off by his COM system. It was on the team frequency, which meant everyone, including the other marines, could hear this transmission.

"Mayday! Mayday! We have unknown organisms attacking us and there's too many of them! For every one we kill, three more appear in its place! I repeat, Beta Team is under attack by unknown organisms!"

"Calm down soldier, what do they look like?" asked John, while telling his Spartans to stay alert at the same time.

"They're kind of brown and yellow and look like...us, except they're not. They're like zombies!" The marine sounded quite hysterical. A moment later, a blood curdling scream cut through the air and nothing came through but static.

"Marine! Can you hear me? Respond! This is an order!" But nothing came through but static.

"Squad Gamma and Delta, fall back to this position, now!" He marked a NAV point on their landing zone. "This city has fallen to the Flood." He switched to the Pelicans' frequency but before he could make a message, Cortana cut in.

"I'll handle the evac, you handle getting us out of here."

The Master Chief nodded. "Let's go."

Suddenly, a door was beaten out of the house beside them. The four Spartans raised their MA7B's and each fired a three round burst into the creature. The combat form's torso exploded and it fell to the ground. The Master Chief suddenly felt a renewed sense a fear. A fear that hasn't been roused since his last encounter with the parasitic creatures.

"Kelly, take point," ordered John. "Get us back to where we landed."

Kelly sprang into action and the four Spartans doubled back to where they came from. They made it out of the residential district with minimal resistance, but when they approached the commercial district, all hell broke loose. Glass from the elegant skyscrapers exploded into shards of deadly projectiles as the Flood combat forms burst from their hiding places to fall upon their victims.

Linda clicked the safety off her sniper rifle and sniped the combat forms out of the air. Although sniper rifles were generally useless against the Flood, Linda was somehow able to deal significant amounts of damage to them with her rifle. After the first few shots blew off insignificant body parts, Linda started aiming for the infection forms within the combat forms' torsos. The high calibre rounds tore through the fragile parasites and disabled the warrior forms.

Despite Linda's superior sniper skills, she couldn't take out hundreds of combat forms before they reached them.

"Fall back! Fall back!" John threw a grenade at the incoming crowd of Flood warriors. Then he turned around and sprinted back. Linda, Kelly, and Fred followed his lead and fell back as well. John then spotted a large sign above a privately owned shop. He smiled. "In here."

He bashed open the door to the gun shop and strode in, turning on his helmet lamp in the process. The shop was unusually clean, all things considered. Combat forms started catching up with them and were within shooting range. "Linda, go up to the rooftop and stash as many guns and as much ammo as you can. Fred, Kelly and I will cover you." Fred gave a subtle nod and shouldered his MA7B.

"Yes, sir," said Linda, somewhat bitterly. Like all Spartans, she didn't like to miss a fight.

"John! Fred! Use these, they're much better for close quarters combat." Kelly took two twelve gauge hunting shotguns off a rack, along with four boxes of shotgun ammo. "I'll cover you while you load up."

Linda started putting guns and boxes of ammo into a large box to be carried up to the rooftop. The shop was four stories high, so even with the Flood's ability to jump super high, they still couldn't reach the top. Meanwhile, Kelly opened fire with her MA7B. Armour piercing bullets impacted upon the Flood warriors and took a noticeable toll among the parasites. The Flood warriors fell in twos and threes. Kelly reloaded her MA7B. By this time, the shotguns were full loaded.

John and Fred both put down the shotguns and drew their MA7B's again. The Flood weren't close enough for the shotguns to be truly effective. The Spartans fired in bursts, taking out numerous combat forms. The other Flood warriors didn't even notice their fallen comrades and, like maddened beasts, trampled over their fellow soldiers to get to their enemies.

"Take my place, I'll be back," said Kelly. She slipped back into the shop, leaving John and Fred to guard the door. Moments later, she returned with a shotgun of her own, as well as ammo for them.

"Time to get to work," said Kelly, cocking her shotgun. A Flood form jumped thirty feet into the air and landed in front of Kelly. She raised her shotgun and pulled the trigger. Bits of rotten flesh splattered against the ground.

"Cortana, send a distress call back to HQ. I'll let you figure out the contents of the call," said John as he blew a combat form to bits.

"I'm on it," she said. The suddenly, she said, "Look out!"

John looked up just in time to receive a tentacle to the face. He staggered back from the force of the blow. An alarm in his suit went off, signifying that his shields were low. The combat form swung again, but this time it hit nothing but air. The weight it put behind the blow threw it off balance. It fell to the ground and tried to get up before a shotgun round to the chest stopped it.

The fight continued for the better part of an hour. Even with the Spartans' augmented strength and endurance, they were starting to get tired.

"We have as much as we can get up on top of the roof, hurry!" said Linda over the COM.

"Roger that. Kelly, Fred, we're falling back to the roof."

The Spartans raced inside, climbing the flights of stairs two at a time. John paused at the top of a staircase, took out his shotgun, and blew the wooden stairs into splinters. "Just to slow them down," he explained before resuming his climb.

------------------------------

"Sir! It's a distress call from the Spartans! They're under attack by overwhelming forces! According to this report, they're being attacked by organisms called...the Flood!" reported the communications officer.

"Damn it! First the Covenant attack and wipe out a quarter of our marines. Then these...these things lock up the Spartans!" growled General Banks.

"What about the Elites? We could send them to rescue the Spartans."

"Damn it, Lieutenant! Those bastards can't be trusted!"

"But sir, what other options do we have? We can either let them defend the generators, or rescue the Spartans...or let them sit around and do nothing, which is strongly not advised."

"You have a point there, Lieutenant. All right, contact their leader. Tell them that we need their help ASAP."

------------------------------

The Arbiter stood with a squad of SpecOps Elites in a Phantom. It was one of six dispatched to the Human city of Alexandria. Half an hour ago, a Human General requested their help. He explained that the Demons were fighting the parasite and needed help. The Arbiter thought of the irony of his situation when he was in the Gravemind's grasp.

"_No longer brothers, we are. The Flood leader shall feel my wrath for fooling me into doing such a thing._"

"Arbiter! We are approaching the city of Alexandria and our scanners show heavy Flood activity. We will drop you on top of the Demons' location and you will be able to assist them in the battle."

"Good work, let me know when we are about to land."

------------------------------

_**A/N: Oooooh! Plot twist! Betcha didn't see that one coming, did you? Anyway, review, review, review!**_

_**Another A/N: Yes, yes I did steal that first line from StarCraft, as one of the reviewers pointed out. Well, not steal...borrowed.**_


	21. Chapter 20: Heart of the Infection

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

_**A/N: Sorry for the long wait guys, but I've been busy since two months before exams (since like April) and I'm working every day this summer. The weekends are devoted to my friends, parties, and video games, so I really had no time to write...once again, sorry.**_

------------------------------

**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Chapter 20**

**Heart of the Infection**

------------------------------

A shotgun boomed and a shell dropped to the ground with a clink, which no one heard. The Flood form did a back flip in midair as the shot flipped him end over end until it hit the ground. Another form jumped and was put down by a staccato of assault rifle rounds.

"I'm out! Cover me!" cried Kelly as she dumped her assault rifle and picked up a shotgun. Two sniper rounds rang out from Linda's sniper rifle, which put down a Flood controlled Warthog as they penetrated its fuel tank and engine. The resulting explosion vaporized the Flood inside and around the Warthog.

"Whoever said snipers were ineffective against these monstrosities was dead wrong," muttered Linda as she lined up her next shot. John shot her an admiring look before putting the last shotgun round from his shotgun into a Flood form. He fell back as Kelly took his place.

Then something suddenly clicked in his mind. The high-pitched ringing wasn't just his ears. It couldn't be. Not this loud. No, it had to be something else, something Covenant made. He looked up, trying to locate the source of the whining. Then he spotted it. In the distance, six tiny dots were approaching.

"We got more company! Six Phantoms approaching from the south! Hold you fire until, or if, they fire on us. We can't be sure if they're enemies or allies."

"Well, they're making a beeline straight for us, so they probably know we're here," said Cortana. A momentary lull appeared in the battle, allowing the Spartans to reload and rest a bit. "They're pinging us."

"Who is it?" asked John. "Are they friends?"

"It's the Arbiter, they've come to rescue us!"

"But with those Phantoms and the extra troops they'll be dumping, we'll have enough firepower to push back the Flood and rescue the Marines!"

"No! Evac is key! We want you alive, and if the Spartans are dead, the Flood won't matter anymore!" There was a note of unreasoning panic in her voice.

"Cortana..." Something was wrong with her. Her programming made her able to sacrifice the Spartans in order to achieve a goal. That was her primary objective, to achieve an objective. The survival of the Spartans was only at a Beta Command Level. Although his mission was to find out what happened to this city and rescue its inhabitants, it is a bit late for that. He wouldn't leave without the Marines though.

"Your lives depend on this evac, Chief."

"Cortana, you forget your place. I'm here to make decisions, and you're here to give advise, don't forget that," said John, uncharacteristically harsh. This brought Cortana up short.

"Well, if you're going to be that way..."

"I am."

"Fine," said Cortana. John felt her presence slowly melt away from his mind. He sighed, frustrated and confused by Cortana's behaviour. He then gathered himself together. "Spartans, the Phantoms are friendlies. Do not fire upon them."

"Roger that!" said Fred.

John opened a COM channel to the Phantoms. "This is Spartan-117, is that you, Arbiter? Over."

A second later, a deep voice that was unmistakably the Arbiter's came back. "It is I, the Arbiter. We have come to rescue you."

"No, with your help, we can destroy the Flood in this city. We can't afford to let them escape and run rampant on Earth."

"Your words are true. We shall aid you in the extermination of the parasite. We shall come to you now."

"Good, see you then. Over and out."

The Phantoms flew at the Spartans with guns blazing, blasting Flood warriors into bits. The Flood all turned their concentration on the Phantoms. Infected marines fired their weapons at the dropships, but to no avail...until a rocket was launched at one of the Phantoms. The shot was on target, and one of the three plasma turrets fell to the ground, useless. The Phantom reeled but managed to stay in the air.

"Linda!" barked John.

"On it, Chief!" She levelled her sniper rifle and took aim. A single bullet was all that was needed to penetrate the rocket launcher. The remaining round in the launcher detonated, blowing the Flood wielding it to bits.

The Phantoms surrounded the building and unleashed hellish gouts of plasma upon the Flood. Even the Flood, with their minimal intelligence (or perhaps an outside source told them to retreat), sensed that it would be a waste of resources to continue the attack, so they fell back. A Phantom hovered over the Spartans and two Elites came down to greet them.

"Spartans. It is...good to see you alive," said the Arbiter.

John smiled. "Still not used to us being allies eh?"

"Not completely, although I have to admit, it is much more satisfying killing the Jiralhanae and the parasite than facing you Humans."

"All right, enough pleasantries, let's decide on a course of action," said John.

Both Elites nodded, and the one with half of his mandibles missing spoke. "From the air, we saw a massive structure in the middle of the city with parasitic mould growing on it, and the parasites' spores are already filling the air around it." He withdrew a holoprojector and displayed the image for the Spartans to see.

"Probably the Museum of Alexandria, judging from the design." John went over the schematics of the city. "That's the sector of the city Sergeant Johnson was supposed to investigate. We must go there to rescue them," said John.

The Arbiter and the other Elite exchanged glances. "Sounds workable, what do you think, Hakamamee?"

"I will stand by whatever you decide, Arbiter," said the Elite known as Hakamamee.

"I want your honest opinion on this, Klasz. Tell me what you think, as a friend."

The SpecOps Commander stood still for a while. Then he finally spoke. "If this was a week ago, I would have said let them die, their lives matter not to us." Fred involuntarily took a step towards Hakamamee.

"Relax Fred, let him finish." The Master Chief extended an arm in front of Fred.

"But this is not a week ago. During the past week, I have seen many horrors, and realized that the Humans were not what the Prophets led us to believe."

"Then it's decided, let's move!" The Master Chief gave his team a few short, crisp hand signals. The Spartans boarded different Phantoms (for security reasons) and they lifted off towards the nearest group of Marines are...if they were still alive.

------------------------------

It didn't take the expected five days. It barely took one. Since most of the ships were already ready for departure anyway, it took very little work to round them up.

In the Control Room of the Flagship _Divine Visitation_, Supreme Commander Rhombr Mahuee stood, ready to give his orders.

"The _Fleet of Avenging Retribution_ is ready and is ready to go on your order, your Highness," his comrade, Lajmir Ramenee, also his second in command, reported.

"Excellent, give them our orders to attack the Sol System. They should already have that information in their databanks. We leave in five."

Ramenee relayed that information to the rest of the Fleet. "Orders given, sire. Anything else?"

"No, you have done well. It's time to put these miserable heretics and their Human friends down...forever."

------------------------------

"There's nothing but static, sir. Something must be scrambling our signals," Private André Atreides said nervously, trying to send a distress call for the fifth time.

"Keep trying son," said Sergeant Johnson through gritted teeth, while putting a battle dressing on his arm. An overexcited combat form slashed it in the previous skirmish, leaving a sizable gash, but the blood was already starting to clot and the cut was getting smaller by the minute. It still stung, so Johnson decided that it was for the best.

A moment later, Private Atreides leaped up in surprise. "Sir, I think we got something! Listen to this!"

Sergeant Johnson ran over to Atreides's position and listened, trying to determine what the other people on the other side were saying.

"-close to landing, Ar – _static _– can see the – _static _– touchdown! May the – _static_ – you!" Then the radio clicked, and nothing else came out of the static.

"What do you think, sir?"

"You know what I think? I think we're about to get some company, alien or Human, friend or foe, I don't know, but lets get ready."

They had locked themselves in the town hall and barricaded themselves in. After many skirmishes, they finally managed to hold most of the top floor. They lost four good men in the process, who had their spine broken in several places, as well as the brain destroyed, before they were left to the Flood. It wasn't out of cruelty, but necessity.

"Walsh, Matos, Rasmushemty, follow me. The rest of you stay here and guard this floor, I don't want any mess ups." Johnson turned to the three Marines he had chosen. "We're going up to the roof to see who these visitors are."

"Sir! Yes, sir!" saluted the Marines.

The four Marines trooped up to the roof and as soon as they opened the trapdoor leading to the roof, a wave of green spores drifted in.

"Shut it!" coughed Johnson. Rasmushemty immediately shut the door, but it didn't escape the notice of the beings on the other side. A massive dent appeared in one corner of the trapdoor.

"Marines! Retreat!" ordered Johnson, while he aimed his assault rifle at the metallic portal. Another blow and the trapdoor flew off its hinges, right at Rasmushemty's neck. The sound of his neck breaking was drowned out by a shrill scream, which quickly turned into gurgling as blood filled up his mouth. Green mist drifted from the opening and through it, although obscured by the fog, they could clearly tell that the agents of the Gravemind were in the building.

------------------------------

"Touchdown! May the Forerunners be with you," said the lead pilot as his Phantom rose off the ground and rocketed towards the sky. The Arbiter and Hakamamee were getting the Elites into teams and giving them instructions. The Master Chief took this time to assess the situation. They had to be dumped five kilometres away from the museum since the green mist made flying very dangerous. Not being able to see things twenty metres in front of you while flying at two hundred kilometres and hour isn't the best idea.

"Ready?" the Arbiter asked.

John gave a crisp nod. "Let's go."

They approached the entrance cautiously, but weren't greeted by any enemies. John put up his hand, signalling for everyone to stop. Although the Elites wanted the Arbiter to lead, the Arbiter, with uncharacteristic humility for an Elite, wanted John to be in front because "this 'Master Chief' has seen more combat than I have".

John pointed at Kelly, Hakamamee, and the Arbiter, then at the door. He grabbed a plasma grenade from a bandolier than hung around his waist and primed it. The other three nodded and did the same. Four grenades sailed towards the main entrance of the museum, which was covered with a wall of thick mucus. The grenades latched on and exploded a second later. John's visor automatically dimmed to adjust to the brilliant flash of light. They waited, guns ready, for the Flood that would inevitably rush out from the other side...but nothing came out – odd.

John made another few hand signals – approach slowly and with caution – and he approached the entrance in a half-crouch, shotgun ready. His two sword hilts also hung from his armour – courtesy of the Elites. He went in, took a quick look around, and waved the rest of his team in. His team consisted of his Spartans, the Arbiter, the SpecOps Commander known as Hakamamee, and four other SpecOps Elites. The rest of the troops were assigned other duties, such as securing the area around the museum.

John turned on his helmet lamp and took another glance at his surroundings. The Flood had knocked out all the lights, so it was very dark. Add the greenish mist to the mix, and it was almost impossible to see. The other Spartans turned on their helmet lamps as well, while the Elites adjusted their shields to shine more brightly. John mentally noted that fighting in these conditions would suck. Something dripped onto his shoulder, and he reflexively looked up. The barrel of his shotgun followed a second later.

"Dear mother of God..." he whispered. Hundreds of combat forms hung from above them with assorted weapons. Some with nothing but the deadly tentacles on their limbs while others were armed with weapons or various relics from the museum. Some of these relics were nothing but rocks and wooden totems, while others were large broadswords. The latter could be a problem.

A deep rumbling came from nowhere. The rumbling uttered nothing intelligible, at least, not to any of the Elites or Spartans, but the Flood clearly understood it. As soon as the rumbling stopped, the Flood forms all gave an ear piercing wail – a very disturbing sound – and attacked.

"Stay together, don't scatter! Let's try to hold this corner!" he highlighted a portion of the room on his HUD and sent the image to his teammates. The Spartans blinked their acknowledgement lights, and the Elites nodded. A combat form dashed at him with inhuman quickness, and he blew it away with a blast from his shotgun. He mentally noted that he was quickly running out of ammo as he blew another Flood soldier into dust.

A red dot approached him from behind and he turned around to blow it away too. What he didn't expect was for the Flood to jump, and his shot only skimmed the combat form's left foot. The Flood warrior gave a wail of anger and lashed out at John with the thing in its hand. The weapon it was carrying was a four foot long broadsword. John quickly shifted the position of this shotgun to ward off the blow. The force of the attack not only made John lose grip on the shotgun, but also made him lose his footing and fly back several meters. Upon landing, his shields drained by a third. About a foot of the sword broke off and was sent spiralling away, severing the arm off another combat form. It jumped again, ready to deliver the finishing blow. John waited until the last second, before rolling away while activating one of his energy swords. A blinding shaft of light appeared in his hand, and John sliced through the combat form's body without even a slight change in expression – not that anyone could see his face. He deactivated his energy sword and took the broken broadsword from the dead Flood's body. Although the sword was broken, the three feet that remained was still sharp, and could cut through the rotten flesh of Flood easily.

There was no time to search the combat form for other things because other Flood agents were eager to fight. It seemed like hundreds upon hundreds of Flood warriors leaped at John, only to be cut apart by his sword. What was probably minutes seemed like hours as he swung his sword again and again. Bodies fell and amber blood sprayed everywhere. Suddenly, someone screamed, but this time it was different; different from the bloody animal screams of the Flood. This time the scream was human.

------------------------------

Sergeant Avery Johnson felt a wave of fear and revulsion as a little podlike creature jumped onto Rasmushemty's chest and claimed the dying Marine as its own. His already broken neck snapped back even further and his arms sprouted tentacles. The fear didn't completely overwhelm Sergeant Johnson – I mean, come on, what could? – and the Flood parasite and Rasmushemty were shot dead in a heartbeat.

"Let's get our asses out of here boys," said Johnson as he pointed at the exit. More infection forms came down the hatch as the Marines hastily made their exit. Sergeant Johnson was the last one out and he dutifully locked the door behind him. As they approached their hideout, they heard gunfire.

"Oh shit. Marines, move it out! Double time!" ordered Sergeant Johnson while he steeled himself for the worst.

They sprinted to where the rest of their squad were, but no one was shooting. "What the hell is going on here? I heard gunfire."

"Sir, the sounds started shortly after you left. We've been trying to contact them, but something's blocking our signals...and we don't know if they're friendlies or not," said Atreides.

"Well, it's _gunfire_, so it's gotta be friendlies. Humans, you know," said Matos irritatingly, as if the fact was obvious and that there could be no other solution.

"Not necessarily, Marine. Those damn Flood guys can use them too. The Covenant can also use them, rare as that is. Don't rule it out entirely."

"Good point, I didn't think of that." Matos's posture seemed to deflate like a balloon.

"Then think before you talk next time, Marine." The Sergeant then turned aside to Atreides and slowly winked at him.

"Yes, sir." Matos looked slightly embarrassed. Atreides stifled a laugh, glad that the veteran Sergeant took a liking to him.

"Now let's keep trying that radio," Johnson assigned two Marines for that job. "The rest of you, take shifts on guarding this place while Matos, Walsh, and young Atreides here and I go find out what the source of that gunfire is."

Sergeant Johnson and the other three Marines filed out the door, intent on find out what is causing the commotion.

------------------------------

John whirled around, sword in hand, just in time to see tens of hundreds of infection forms take down a much larger form; like wolves working together to bring down much larger prey. Fred's biosigns went haywire, heart rate was going off the charts, and everything was chaotic.

"Fred!" he tried running to him comrade, but was hit from behind by a combat form.

_Dammit!_

Plasma fire came from nowhere and struck the combat form in the chest, effectively killing it. John looked up at the owner of the rifle.

"Go, help your friend, I shall make sure that the parasite does not get in your way."

John reflexively smiled his gratitude at the Arbiter, then nodded after realizing that the Arbiter couldn't see his face.

"Thank you." He said, before rushing to Fred's side.

By now, Fred's heart rate has slowed down by so much, it was impossible for a normal human to survive in such conditions. His body temperature also dropped by more than ten degrees, and dents started appearing in his armour from the inside out. Almost with tears in his eyes, John discarded his broadsword and drew his twin energy swords.

With a hiss, Fred's helmet snapped off, and clattered to the ground. His neck bent back and turning mouldier by the second. With an inhuman roar it lunged at John. The attack took John by surprise, but he was still somewhat ready. With its strength multiplied at least tenfold by the MJOLNIR armour, what used to be Fred knocked John off his feet. Both suits of MJOLNIR crackled as the shield systems failed. John's two energy swords fell to the ground, yards away from his reach.

Now weaponless, John had to rely on his armour, his body, and his reflexes. Although he knew that Fred outweighed him (figuratively speaking), he was still going to fight till the end. All around him, the battle between the living and the semi-living continued on.

_Clang!_ A bullet flew passed his head and hit Fred in the face. A portion of his face flew off as the bullet ripped through his skull. The Spartan-Flood, momentarily distracted, turned at its attacker, Linda. With a burst of speed, John crossed the gap between himself and Fred and checked him into the wall. The energy shields on both suits that were trying to regenerate were flattened in an instant.

John latched onto Fred's back and dug his fingers into Fred's armour, trying to find the beast that claimed his long time friend. With surprising flexibility, Fred reached back and grabbed John's arm, then flung him to the ground. Without shields, his armour took the brunt of the blow. He landed face down and a crater appeared where he landed. He coughed, and blood spewed out of his mouth, splattering on the inside of his visor.

The thing that was Fred rounded on him, intent on destroying him once and for all. It cranked its arm back ready to deliver the finishing blow.

_Fred..._

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**_A/N: Well, a short chapter, AND the long wait, you guys must hate me for this :-( I'm sorry people, but I've been really busy. After school starts, I'll probably be even busier, so I can't guarantee that I can get the next chapter up fast either. But now for the good news, for me anyway. I'm having a blast. This summer's been great, meeting new people, going out with friends, camping, and all sorts of good stuff. Anyway, cheers! (And please don't hate me :-) )_**


	22. Notice: Delay of Story

Disclaimer: None of the characters from Halo, Halo 2, or the Halo books are mine.

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**Halo 3: The Fall of the Covenant**

**Notice**

**Delay of Story**

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Okay guys, I'm really really sorry about this, but this chapter isn't gonna be up for a while. As I said before, school's been really really busy for me, plus, I have a girlfriend now, and I have to spend time with her too. Also, her parents don't want us together, so I gotta fight against that too, and this whole semester has been hectic for me. Once again, I apologize, but nothing can be done.

Now, with that said, be assured that I'm not abandoning this story. Anyway, peace.


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